Another advocate of reform is Sir Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust, a biomedical charity, who led a recent official review of maths and science education.

ECONOMIST: Reform is mooted as exam grades seem to rise inexorably

The chief scientific adviser, Sir Mark Walport, has said restrictions on the use of pesticides should not be introduced lightly, and the idea of a ban should be dropped.

BBC: Bee deaths: EU to ban neonicotinoid pesticides

Even Sir Mark Walport, the director of the Wellcome Trust and a fierce advocate of open-access publication, worries that a system based on the green model could become fragmented.

ECONOMIST: Academic journals face a radical shake-up

Sir Mark Walport, the director of Wellcome Trust, said that his organisation is in the final stages of launching a high calibre scientific journal called eLife that would compete directly with top-tier publications such as Nature and Science, seen by scientists as the premier locations for publishing.

FORBES: The Coming Collapse of the Academic Publishing Model