Scientific Advice

The Science Department of the Velocity Interoperability Network provides scientific advice to member organisations and to the departments of the Network. Advice is prepared through five standing committees, whose members are scientists and engineers drawn from the Department's laboratories and from the member organisations, and is issued in writing over the name of the Department's Chief Scientific Adviser.

The committees were appointed on the day of the Department's establishment, 6 September 2026, and hold their first sittings between 28 September and 9 October 2026. They meet quarterly thereafter. Summaries of the advice given are published on this page after each sitting.

The standing committees. The five bodies below prepare the Department's advice in their fields.

Standing Committee on Measurement Standards

Advises on the custody, comparison and replacement of the Network's reference standards of measurement, and on the accuracy of measurement the Network should aim to hold.

Standing Committee on Analytical Methods

Advises on the methods of chemical and biological analysis used at the national laboratories, and on the validation of new methods before they are brought into use.

Standing Committee on Materials and Structures

Advises on the materials, components and structures used by member organisations, on testing practice, and on the investigation of failures.

Standing Committee on Environmental Measurement

Advises on the design of the Network's monitoring of air and water, on the interpretation of the measurements recorded, and on the points at which monitoring should be strengthened.

Scientific Advisory Council

Coordinates the work of the four standing committees, settles questions referred to it by them, and reports annually to the Department on the state of measurement and analysis across the Network.

The sitting schedule. The first sittings of the committees are set out below. Sittings are held at the laboratories named in the register; the schedule of later sittings follows the quarterly pattern and is confirmed in the Newsroom.

Requesting advice. The steps below apply to every request for advice to the Department.

1. 1

   Step 1: Frame the question

   State the scientific question, the decision that depends on it, the organisation asking and the date by which an answer is needed. Questions within the fields of the standing committees are answered most quickly.

2. 2

   Step 2: Write to the Department

   Send the request to the Department's email address. The Department acknowledges every request within two working days and assigns it to the committee or laboratory best placed to prepare the advice.

3. 3

   Step 3: The advice is prepared

   Standard requests are answered within ten working days; urgent matters are answered as they arise. Where a question falls outside the Department's competence, it says so and explains why.

4. 4

   Step 4: The answer is issued

   Advice is issued in writing over the name of the Chief Scientific Adviser. A summary of each advice is published on this page unless the requesting organisation asks for it to be withheld, in which case the reason is recorded.

Questions about advice. The questions below are those most frequently received about the Department's advisory work.

Requests for advice, and questions about the committees, may be sent to contact@science.gov.vin. For the work of the laboratories, see National Laboratories; for the reference standards on which much of the advice rests, see Reference Standards and Calibration; for answers to common questions, see the frequently asked questions.