Encouraging the scientists of tomorrow

The newspapers seem to be full of news about the Government's potential cuts to services and funding.

And for medical research charities like Parkinson's UK, these can seem to be uncertain times to be investing in medical research.

This week we were at the House of Commons, together with other medical research charities, at the Medical Research All Party Parliamentary Group summer reception.

This was an opportunity to meet MPs and keep the work that charities like ours do in funding medical research high on the political agenda.

We were pleased to hear David Willetts, the Minister for Universities and Science, acknowledge the important role that medical charities play in the UK.

We also heard some interesting facts:

• In 2009/10 alone, medical research charities contributed over £1billion worth of funding to medical and health research in the UK.


• The UK is second only to The Netherlands in Europe, in the proportion of people giving to research.

To illustrate just how the UK is leading the way in research which could move us ever closer to a cure for Parkinson's, Dr Richard Wade-Martins spoke to the media this week about cutting edge technology - creating stem cells from a person's own skin cells.

Most of Dr Wade-Martins' team at Oxford University are under the age of 40. To encourage the young scientists of tomorrow, the Government must keep its promise to invest in medical research today.

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