Scotland appoints a new chief scientific adviser

The Scottish government has appointed Glasgow University academic Sheila Rowan as the country's new chief scientific adviser (CSA), 18 months after the previous post-holder left the job.

The appointment of Rowan was announced yesterday by Scotland’s deputy first minister John Swinney and science minister Shirley-Anne Somerville.

Rowan succeeds computer scientist Muffy Calder, now vice-principal of the Glasgow University, who stepped down in December 2014.

The part-time position – Rowan will continue her job as a scientist for two days a week – involves giving independent scientific advice to ministers on a range of issues.

Rowan is director at the Institute for Gravitational Research in Glasgow and contributed to the first detection of gravitational waves, one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs in recent years. The team behind the discovery won the 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize.

Anton Muscatelli, principal of Glasgow University, described Rowan as an "outstanding scientist" and a "brilliant communicator and superb role model”.

She is the country's third female CSA after Calder and Anne Glover, who also served as the European Commission’s first CSA.

Opposition politicians have decried the glacial pace of filling the role. In the time without a CSA, the Scottish government  announced a moratorium on fracking and a ban on growing GM crops, both issues on which it is considered a CSA may have provided advice to ministers.