Documentation

Further reading

 

Books in the field of Knowledge Quality Assessment:

 

Science for Policy

Ângela Guimarães Pereira and Silvio Funtowicz, 2010. Science for Policy, Oxford University Press.

This volume discusses the changing role of science in policymaking. Producers and users of science and technology for policy are increasingly aware of the need to change the ways in which knowledge is produced and deployed, especially science?based knowledge used to foster, support, or legitimize policy decision making. The challenge is to develop new decision?making styles in order to cope with deep uncertainty, even ignorance, about facts, and in a plurality of value systems.
Strengthened by case studies, this volume illustrates the importance of a post?normal concept of science in order to ensure that scientific knowledge is deployed with integrity. The 18 thematically arranged essays discuss, in varying mixes of theory, formal methods and empirical detail, the process, challenge, and promise of using science for policy in governance. For example, the role of scientific information in the choices of agricultural technology and food policymaking, or the assumptions made in the calculation of the external costs of nuclear energy.
Sample chapter: L. Maxim, and J.P. van der Sluijs (2009). Multi-causal Relationships in their Socio-political Context.

 

Interfaces between Science and Society

By: Ângela Guimarães Pereira, Sofia Guedes Vaz and Sylvia Tognetti, Interfaces between Science and Society, Green Leaf Publishing, 2006.

Research on the interfaces between science and society is a burgeoning area. A new conception of knowledge now appears to be emerging, based on the awareness of complexity, uncertainty and a plurality of legitimate perspectives and interests. Democracy is extending into the previously quite exclusive scientific realm, and science must now submit to public scrutiny and participation in the governance of knowledge. This book provides much-needed reflections on the methods and tools for knowledge quality assurance, particularly on its inputs to extended policy and decision-making processes.

The overall aim is to improve the relationship between science and society. The discussion involves six themes: communicating between plural perspectives; accepting and learning how to manage uncertainty, complexity and value commitments; acknowledging new conceptions of knowledge; implementing transparency, openness and participation in science policy; valuing community-based research; and exploring how new ICT can support inclusive governance. Taken together, these themes provide both a framework and vision on how to conceive, discuss and evaluate the changes that are occurring. The chapters cover theory, practice, approaches, experiences, ideas and suggestions for a move beyond 'talking the talk' to 'walking the walk'.

Science and policy interfaces are dynamic processes needing to permanently redefine themselves and their roles. This book contributes to the enrichment and deepening of our understanding of these important new trends in the social relations of science, which are fundamental to our understanding of the prospects for further progress.

The book will be essential reading for scientists, policy-makers, managers and the public.

Sample chapters:

 

 

Websites

Controversial public policy decisions that affect many people are unlikely to be accepted unless they are justified, somehow, by those who make them. Often, this is done by invoking some form of authority.
The Post-Normal Times is dedicated to improving the quality of public participation in science-based policy decisions related to the conundrums presented by problems of environmentally sustainable development, by providing multiple and constructive perspectives on complex and controversial science and policy issues. A central focus will be on justifications provided for controversial high-stakes decisions that pertain to complex problems such as climate change, in which the disadvantages of making trade-offs fall disproportionately on those excluded from the decision-making process. Special themes preliminarily identified for coverage include:
• Demythification of science used to support specific and selected policy decisions.
• “Ignorance of ignorance” – i.e., blindspots
• Uses and abuses of uncertainty in decision-making, such as the use of science to avoid actually making a decision
• Paradox and contradiction in existing policies
• Living in Post-Normal Times- a space for reports and commentary on the social and cultural context of science and policy.
This includes essays, reviews of selected books, movies and artists that present emerging perspectives, and scenarios of the future.

  • www.postnormaltimes.net
  • www.nusap.net
    NUSAP net is a website dedicated to uncertainty and quality in environmental assessment, with a special focus on the further development, application and dissemination of the NUSAP method.
    It aims to serve as a platform for scientists, policymakers and the public involved in this field.     You can find here news, reviews, tutorials, reports, links, interactive tools and much more to assist in the complex task of managing uncertainty and quality to arrive at robust knowledge for sustainbility.

 

  • The ULYSSES Web Tutorial on Participatory Integrated Assessment
    This tutorial aims to make results of the ULYSSES (Urban Lifestyles, Sustainability and Integrated Environmental Assessment) project accessible to practitioners and researchers. ULYSSES was a European research project in the 1990s on public participation in Integrated Assessment. ULYSSES' main task has been to develop tools to facilitate citizen participation in integrated environmental assessment. This was deemed necessary if integrated assessment is to become more useful for supporting policy making on complex environmental issues in democratic settings. Unless the points of view of stakeholders, including citizens, are taken more into account, environmental strategies run the risk of getting stalled in the early implementation stage.

For this reason, a methodology has been developed which aims to open new channels of communication between practitioners and users of environmental science and to bridge cognitive gaps between citizens, scientists and policy makers, so that they become aware of each other's perspectives and commitments.

The special approach of ULYSSES was to design procedures allowing interfaces between expert models of environmental change on the one hand, and lay participants in focus group discussions on the other hand. These 'IA-Focus Group' procedures have been designed, and tested in seven urban regions throughout Europe for the topic of climate change in relation to urban lifestyles. This tutorial aims to make the methodology developed by ULYSSES accessible both to practitioners and to researchers in integrated assessment.