Science for Policy

Politicians and lobbyists alike dream of the silver bullet: a single killer piece of scientific evidence that will change all our minds about future policymaking. But could any simple piece of evidence have the power to beat big ideas in public debate? And can evidence garner political attention even when the politicians don't go looking for it? Dr Leire Rincón García's field research on the polic...

One in three people in the world suffers from malnutrition of one form or another. The world's most prominent intergovernmental body for addressing this challenge, the UN Committee on World Food Security, has its own science advice service made up of experts from around the world. In this episode, Professor Jennifer Clapp gives Toby Wardman a whirlwind tour of the High Level Panel of Experts on Fo...

In this special episode, twelve scholars of science advice discuss the challenges of incorporating a radically diverse range of perspectives into a science advice process. This conversation was recorded as part of the INGSA 2021 conference on global science advice, and is moderated by Estelle Balian. Speakers in order of appearance Jacopo Torriti, Professor of Energy Economics and Policy, School o...

When it comes to science advice infrastructure, Europe is far from a unified whole. That's why the European Commission's science service, the Joint Research Centre, set out to map the entire landscape, looking not only at European and national level but also digging into the way science influences policy within regions and even individual cities. In this episode, Toby Wardman talks to Kristian Kri...

How can policymakers really understand the nitty-gritty of a complex system and how their decisions can influence it? How can scientists get a handle on the many competing variables that policymakers must take into account alongside the scientific evidence? One idea is to throw both of them into a live simulation of the system they want to understand, and let them sink or swim. In this episode, ga...

The world is more interconnected than ever, and global research is no exception. But when scientists work together across borders, who wins — and who, if anyone, loses? Should policymakers be concerned about 'leakage' of publicly-funded research? How is science advice impacted? And in a global knowledge community, is there any future for old-school concepts like science diplomacy? Professor Caroli...

Our two-part series focusing on students and early career researchers concludes today with a lively conversation about teaching, learning and scholarship. Dr Leonie Tanczer, the designer of a unique science advice course at University College London, joins two of her former students María Jarquín and Natasha Boyd to discuss how the field is seen through the eyes of students — with a particular foc...

Some scientists get involved with policy without giving up their day jobs. Others take their scientific training and move wholesale into the world of policy, taking up roles as advisors, analysts, knowledge brokers or advocates on specific issues. In the first in a two-part series focusing on students and early-career researchers, Dr Adriana Bankston of the University of California shares her tips...

Science, and especially social sciences and humanities, have always had a broad range of impacts on society — impacts which are not easily measured using traditional academic indicators. And engagement with policymakers is one of the trickiest areas to pin down: even when we know it's happening, finding ways to measure and evaluate it can be difficult. In this episode, Professor David Budtz Peders...

When it's finished, the European Spallation Source in Sweden and Denmark will be the brightest neutron source in the world, opening up new frontiers for science in a broad range of fields. But building a giant facility like this takes decades of commitment from policymakers and scientists alike. In a political environment dominated by short-term thinking, how do we keep everyone on board to see th...

To coincide with the twentieth birthday of the European Academies' Science Advisory Council, their president Christina Moberg joins Toby Wardman to discuss the role of academies in advising policymakers, communicating with citizens, and contributing to society more generally. We also discuss the history and role of EASAC, the new challenges of science advice post-COVID, and Nobel prizes.

What happens when your country needs a new science advice system, but all you have is a blank sheet of paper and a mandate to experiment? The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters set out in 2019 to reinvent science advice with their Sofi project. Two years later, the project is about to become a permanent fixture, and its principal architects Jaakko Kuosmanen and Risto Nieminen talk to Toby Ward...

How much political appetite is there for science advice to foreign policy — and how much impact does it have? What are the differences between advising ministers and advising diplomats? What does the phrase 'science diplomacy' actually mean? Jan Marco Müller discusses these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discuss how to develop advice demand as well as supply, the geopolitics of Russ...

How do the COVID vaccines work? How do we prioritise recipients? What are the major decisions facing policymakers when executing a mass vaccination campaign -- and where can science help to advise them? George Griffin discusses these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discuss how to get jabs to developing countries, the origins of the anti-vax movement, and whether we should be worried...

How is Antarctica governed, and why do scientists play such a key role in running it? What science advice structures exist to advise Antarctic decision-makers, and how do they function? Can the whole science-as-governance system, designed in the 1950s, survive into the 21st century? Natasha Gardiner discusses these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discuss decision-making deadlock, sav...

Can unofficial or self-appointed science advice structures be valuable, or are they destabilising? What responsibilities does a science advisor have when they disagree with the consensus view? What's going wrong, if anything, when a politician picks up the phone and calls their own favourite scientist for input? Roger Pielke Jr discusses these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discuss...

How widespread is the use of big data in government decision-making? What questions should policymakers ask when presented with policy recommendations based on data modelling? Should opaque models based on machine-learning algorithms come with a health warning? Tracey Brown discusses these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discuss spurious precision in scientific results, whether US el...

What does the worldwide scientific community think of how science advice was used in 2020? What impact have lockdown, home-working and the race for a vaccine had on the life and work of individual scientists? Have other areas of science-related policy, such as climate change, been boosted or sidelined since COVID? Fred Fenter and Stephan Kuster discuss these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. W...

The Dutch parliament is trialling a new, radical way to take advice from scientists on every draft law that comes before it. How legally robust is it? What are the risks for scientists of getting involved in the cut and thrust of parliamentary debate, and for politicians of inviting professors to "mark their homework"? Pieter Duisenberg, Joost Sneller and Dr Liesbeth Hulst talk to Toby Wardman of...

Why is multidisciplinary science advice so difficult, and are there ways to make it easier? Should policymakers seek ethics advice as well as science advice? When there is a conflict between the values embedded in different cultural contexts, how can we navigate the conflict sensitively? Christiane Woopen, Paul Nurse and Peter Piot discuss these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discus...

What makes science journalism a tough job? How should the media handle the complexities of science advice systems, especially during a pandemic? And when science advice, political controversy and public health get tangled up together, is a journalist the right person to try and unpick them? Miriam Frankel discusses these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discuss how not to accidentally...

How does Angela Merkel’s confidential science and innovation advisory group function? When can industry stakeholders play a role in science advice, and what are the benefits and challenges when they do? Florian Süssenguth discusses these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discuss the difficulty of measuring impact, science advice in the post-Merkel future, and what innovation actually m...

** Note to listeners: The version of this episode first published on Christmas Day included a minor editing error around minute 40 (a few moments of silence). A corrected version was published on 4 January. If your podcast app had downloaded the episode before that date, but you haven't yet listened to it, you may wish to delete and re-download the episode so you have the corrected version. Apolog...

How is the nature of knowledge changing? What is the impact of the digital revolution on the roles of universities, academies and science advisors? Is democratisation of knowledge always a good thing? Professor Antonio Loprieno discusses these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discuss how to digitally unwrap an Egyptian mummy, whether there is such a thing as objective truth, and how l...

Is there a fundamental tension between democracy and expertise? How can non-experts evaluate experts? When we design science advice systems, should we prioritise independence or interdependence? Professor Cathrine Holst discusses these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discuss techniques to reduce human error in science advice, how to pronounce awkward acronyms, and whether populism is...