A space to explore, share and shape the issues facing social and behavioral scientists
Recent experiences have not been very positive. The vast majority of proposals seem to conflate impact with research dissemination (a heroic leap of faith – changing the world one seminar at a time), or to outsource impact to partners such as NGOs and thinktanks.
When communicating with a policymaker, especially one with whom you disagree, you want to stop them from discounting your opinion. One way to do this is by citing quality evidence to support your position.
Considering a series of proposed policy changes by the National Institutes of Health, Micah Altman and Philip N. Cohen, argue they highlight wider systematic gaps in the evaluation of operational science policies and signal an urgent need to increase funding for metascience.
Creators and participants in the Evidence Synthesis Hackathon ask what’s the solution to coping with the increasing volume of evidence needed to build effective, solid policy? They argue that technology is the key. With accessible software tools and workflows, machines can be left to do the laborious work so that people can focus on planning, thinking and doing.
So if markets are truly good for English higher education, as many seem to think, should we follow that train of thought to its logical conclusions?
Membership in the European Union was a contract, and the differing legal approaches between situational British common law and the more codified French approach helps explain some of the rancor as Brexit comes to be applied.
The UK science policy establishment has been remarkably sanguine in the face of its government’s plans for Brexit, argues Robert Dingwall.
Our Robert Dingwall reflects on Tinder’s in-house sociologist and on the just-announced New Year’s Honours list to question just how diverse are current understandings of diversity.
In an effort to prevent ‘gaming’ the REF, new recommendation from Lord Stern cuts down on the freedom of academics to move from institution as they see fit. Is the cure worse than the disease?
As Ian McBride has commented in The Guardian, one of the strange features of Britain’s EU referendum is the resignation […]
As social scientists are pressured to be part of the policy-making process, that’s easier said than done, explains James Lloyd. He gives six reasons why sometimes research won’t (and perhaps shouldn’t) impact change.
Another disease in the tropics has the World Health Organisation in a lather, and again biomedicine’s response will not be all that useful in the short term. Social science can help now to address the underlying problems that help the Zika virus to spread — if policymakers will listen.
