Science for Policy

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 the dubious wisdom of electing your commander-in-chief, asking your friend to give you brain surgery, and channeling the dark side of the force.

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 election pollsters got it right or wrong, and the psychology of ordering wine.

Sense About Science guide to data science: https://wordpress-398250-1278369.cloudwaysapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SaS-DataScienceGuide-V8-SinglePages.pdf

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. We also discuss whether a worldwide crisis helps or hinders the cause of open access publishing, whether it has made the scientific community more connected or more disjointed, and why giving public science advice is a risky and often thankless task.

• Research paper on the academic response to COVID-19: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.621563/full

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 SAPEA about the new science advice mechanism in the parliament of the Netherlands. They also discuss upstream effects of downstream policy changes, the challenges of building a bridge between worlds, and whether such a scheme could be replicated elsewhere.

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 discuss the unique challenges of giving advice in a crisis, the relationship between ‘discovery’ and applied science, and whether Rambo would make a good government advisor.

• Joint statement on scientific advice during COVID-19: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/346c8eaf-ba79-11ea-811c-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-139601691

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 amplify fringe scientists, how to coach science advisors to talk to the public, and whether non-specialist readers really care about anything beyond just black holes and dinosaurs.

• The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/

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 means anyway.

• Innovation Dialogue: https://www.acatech.de/projekt/innovationsdialog-zwischen-bundesregierung-wirtschaft-und-wissenschaft/

** 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. Apologies for the inconvenience! **

What joint challenges are faced by policy advisors and TV advisors? Why would a committed scientist make the switch from basic research to the entertainment industry? How serious is Star Trek about 'getting the science right'?

Dr Erin Macdonald discusses these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discuss the nature of gene transfer in tardigrades, whether it’s wise to step into the transporter, and how to solve the Heisenberg uncertainty principle in one easy step.

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 loudly Toby can scream when his audio is muted.

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 the chicken or the egg.

• The PERITIA project on trust in expertise: https://peritia-trust.eu/