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Science, not silence - Guest lecture & workshop by Professor Shaun Hendy

  • Venue: The Curve, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BX
  • Start: Tue, 21 Jan 2020 13:00:00 GMT
  • End: Tue, 21 Jan 2020 16:30:00 GMT
Scientific evidence is held in high regard by governments and their public officials, and it can play a significant role in the policy arena. But there is still considerable debate as to how science should interact with policy. One perspective, as articulated by the former New Zealand Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, Sir Peter Gluckman, is that “science informs policy by providing a base of relatively values-free knowledge on which to build policy options”. In this talk, however, Professor Hendy will argue that the authority of scientific evidence does not derive from its lack of values, but from the values from which it derives. Science makes progress because of its openness and transparency, its tolerance of evidence-based criticism and debate, and its acceptance of fallibility and uncertainty. This also means that the responsibility of science extends well beyond the provision of evidence; science must also accept a degree of responsibility for how the evidence is used. Science advisors must be advocates for scientific values and not simply brokers of knowledge, while policy-makers who wish to make use of scientific evidence must incorporate scientific values into the processes by which policy is made. Professor Hendy will conclude with a number of recommendations as to how science and policy can better accommodate one another, which can lead to better science and better policy.
 
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