Making Science Public

Category: Science Policy

  • On the value of scholarship

    On the value of scholarship

    Three anecdotes and an email: Many years ago when I moved from the humanities to the social sciences, somebody remarked that from now on I would no longer just be doing scholarship but engage in actual research. That puzzled me at the time, but I now see, sort of, what that person meant. At the…

  • Science as public and consensible knowledge

    Science as public and consensible knowledge

    I recently chatted with some natural scientists of a certain (my) age, that is, whose formative student years lay in the 1960s and 1970s, and they recommended some books to me. In the 1970s I had nothing to do with science, as I was deeply immersed in the humanities. I have, over the last decade…

  • Moderation impossible? Climate change, alarmism and rhetorical entrenchment

    Moderation impossible? Climate change, alarmism and rhetorical entrenchment

    Intense, polarised debate has been a hallmark of much public debate over the science and politics of climate change. Recently, there have been warnings that “heated rhetoric over ‘deniers’ not only likely alienates broader publics, but it also likely turns off many moderate and centrist influential” (Nisbet 2008). Calls are now being made for a…

  • Rebuttal to “The privatisation of science is not in the public interest”

    Rebuttal to “The privatisation of science is not in the public interest”

    This post reproduces the main arguments I used when I argued against Alex’s motion that “The privatisation of science is not in the public interest” at the launch of the ‘Making Science Public’ programme at the University of Nottingham on 11th February 2013.  Alex opened with his argument and I responded along the following lines. …

  • Call For Papers: Making Expertise Public panel at #SIP13 & #IPA2013

    Call For Papers: Making Expertise Public panel at #SIP13 & #IPA2013

    UPDATE: deadline extended to March 5th. We warmly invite papers to our Making Science Public panel Making Expertise Public: Dilemmas, Conflicts and Controversies, being held at the Interpretive Policy Analysis conference in Vienna (July 3rd-5th). The panel is co-chaired by Sujatha Raman (Deputy Director of Making Science Public), Warren Pearce and Judith Tsouvalis (Making Science Public Research Fellows). Abstracts are invited…

  • Ulrike Felt: Science as a ‘Public Good’ in Search of a ‘Good Public’

    Ulrike Felt: Science as a ‘Public Good’ in Search of a ‘Good Public’

    With only four days to go to the Making Science Public launch event next Monday, February 11th, we are providing a taster of our keynote speech from Professor Ulrike Felt, Professor and Head of the Department of Social Studies of Science at the University of Vienna. We have fewer than ten places left for the…

  • Making Science Public: a route to better evidence?

    Making Science Public: a route to better evidence?

    Co-authored post with Dr. Sujatha Raman, Deputy Director of Making Science Public. The role of scientific evidence within policy is one of the most vexed issues within politics and public administration. Often such evidence is complex, translated to the public via the media and subsequently used to justify particular policy actions or seen to be…

  • Science in Public 2013 – Call for Panel Proposals

    UPDATE: You can see the full Call For Papers including details of all the proposed panels at http://scienceinpublic.org/conference/  8th Annual Science in Public Conference, 22-23 July 2013 on ‘Critical Perspectives on Making Science Public’ Call for Panel Proposals The University of Nottingham is proud to host the 8th Annual Science in Public Conference, 22-23 July 2013.…