Overview
- Argues that emotions affect the understanding of scientific evidence
- Examines how foresight thinking can anticipate the impact of scientific developments and emerging technologies on citizens’ lives
- Develops practical guidance for planning, conducting and communicating robust scientific advice to policymakers
Part of the book series: St Antony's Series (STANTS)
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About this book
Policymakers prepare society for the future and this book provides a practical toolkit for preparing pro-active, future-proof scientific policy advice for them. It explains how to make scientific advisory strategies holistic. It also explains how and where biases, which interfere with the proper functioning of the entire science-policy ecosystem, arise and investigates how emotions and other biases affect the understanding and assessment of scientific evidence. The book advocates explorative foresight, systems thinking, interdisciplinarity, bias awareness and the anticipation of undesirable impacts in policy advising, and it offers practical guidance for them. Written in an accessible style, the book offers provocative reflections on how scientific policy advice should be sensitive to more than scientific evidence. It is both an appealing introductory text for everyone interested in science-based policy and a valuable guide for the experienced scientific adviser and policy scholar.
"This book is a valuable read for all stakeholders in the scientific advisory ecosystem. Lieve Van Woensel offers concrete methods to bridge the gap between scientific advice and policy making, to assess the possible societal impacts of complex scientific and technological developments, and to support decision-makers’ more strategic understanding of the issues they have to make decisions about. I was privileged to see them proove their value as I worked with Lieve on the pilot project of the Scientific Foresight unit for The European Parliament’s STOA panel.” - Kristel Van der Elst, CEO, The Global Foresight Group; Executive Head, Policy Horizons Canada
"This book is a valuable read for all stakeholders in the scientific advisory ecosystem. Lieve Van Woensel offers concrete methods to bridge the gap between scientific advice and policy making, to assess the possible societal impacts of complex scientific and technological developments, and to support decision-makers’ more strategic understanding of the issues they have to make decisions about. I was privileged to see them proove their value as I worked with Lieve on the pilot project of the Scientific Foresight unit for The European Parliament’s STOA panel.” - Kristel Van der Elst, CEO, The Global Foresight Group; Executive Head, Policy Horizons Canada
“A must-read for not only scientific policy advisers, but also those interested in the ethics of scientific advisory processes. Lieve Van Woensel walks readers through a well-structured practical toolkit that bases policy advice on more than scientific evidence by taking into account policies’ potential effects on society and the environment.” - Dr Paul Rübig, Former Member of the European Parliament and former Chair of the Panel for the Future of Science and Technology
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Keywords
Table of contents (5 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Lieve Van Woensel is Head of Service at the European Parliament, where she introduced foresight methodologies into scientific advisory processes. She has a broad scientific background, has worked for over 30 years at the science-policy interface, and was the EU Visiting Fellow at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, UK, 2017-2018.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: A Bias Radar for Responsible Policy-Making
Book Subtitle: Foresight-Based Scientific Advice
Authors: Lieve Van Woensel
Series Title: St Antony's Series
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32126-0
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-32125-3Published: 24 January 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-32128-4Published: 26 August 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-32126-0Published: 26 December 2019
Series ISSN: 2633-5964
Series E-ISSN: 2633-5972
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXV, 133
Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 16 illustrations in colour
Topics: Public Policy, Political Theory, Governance and Government, Comparative Politics, Political Communication, Research Methodology