Science Policy Success

The Science Policy Success conference was held at Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth on Wednesday 7 October and Thursday 8 October 2009.
More than 100 Scottish Government staff, academics, scientists from the Scottish research institutes and individuals from the rural and environment agencies attended.

knowledge scotland: science-policy online resource

Knowledgescotland is an important initiative to improve the links between science and policy.

Prof Beddington presentation at SDUK09

Prof Beddington (UK Government Chief Scientific Advisor) presented his take on the challenges we face nationally and globally at the Sustainable Development UK Conference,his presentation is now available.

" I will leave you with some key questions. Can nine billion people be fed? Can we cope with the demands in the future on water? Can we provide enough energy? Can we do it, all that, while mitigating and adapting to climate change? And can we do all that in 21 years time? That's when these things are going to start hitting in a really big way. We need to act now. We need investment in science and technology, and all the other ways of treating very seriously these major problems. 2030 is not very far away. "

Policy foresight programme at the James Martin 21st Century School

As part of the James Martin 21st Century School at the University of Oxford, Crispin Tickell is coordinating and producing invaluable summaries from the Policy Foresight Programme on issues of science, technology, and the environment to identify leverage points in current policy that could have significant long-term benefits for civilization.

Two relevant and fascinating workshops were:

A new look at the interaction of scientific models and policy making
James Martin 21st Century School, Oxford University13/02/08

Can Britain Feed Itself? Should Britain Feed Itself?
James Martin 21st Century School, Oxford University15/10/08

Stockholm Seminars: Frontiers in Sustainability Science and Policy

These are a fascinating set of seminars from leading experts. I have just watched Will Steffen's call for new approaches to science based on the complex problem's we face. Will makes a case for systems approaches that include participatory research, deal with scale in a fluid manner and use transdisciplinary teams.

Workshop on Agriculture, Water Management and Climate Change

We have returned from a very productive international workshop in Bath with 70 leading on areas of science, management and policy ranging from sociology to water resources. We worked hard to stick to a workshop style meeting; the picture above is from a rich picturing activity led by Kevin Collins from the Open University. Summaries from the activities will be available shortly. I just hope that the participants remember more than just the delights of the Roman Baths!

Article on improving scientific advice to government

In a speech this week, John Denham, the Secretary of State for Innovation, argued that strong scientific advice is crucial for government, and that systems must be in place to give more recognition to researchers who provide expertise to policy makers.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3187795.ece

Recent thinking on IWRM at CAIWA 2007

At a recent workshop on Critical Perspectives on IWRM Theory and Practice at CAIWA 2007

Nigel Watson (Lancaster, UK) presented a case that the implementation of IWRM needs rethinking. This has implications for Policy and Practice:

•IWRM should be designed around the principle of multi-party collaboration

“…the pooling of appreciations and/or tangible resources, e.g. money, labour etc., by two or more stakeholders to solve a set of problems which neither can solve individually.” (Gray, 1985, p.912)

•Move away from programmed (blue-print) implementation for IWRM and adopt an adaptive approach

“The ideal of adaptive implementation is the establishment of a process that allows policy to be modified, specified and revised – in a word, adapted – according to the unfolding interaction of the policy with its institutional setting. Its outcomes would be neither automatic nor assured, and it would look more like a disorderly learning process than a predictable procedure.” Berman (1980, p.210)

More detail to be found at:

‘Critical Perspectives on Integrated Water Management’
Special Issue of The Geographical Journal, Volume 173, No. 4,
December 2007.
Edited by Nigel Watson, Gordon Walker and Will Medd

NERC Science into Policy booklet

This is a very helpful booklet that is primarily aimed to help NERC staff and NERC-funded scientists (equally applicable to all scientists) to:
a) recognise the relevance of science to policy-makers;
b) identify available opportunities, routes and best practice to influence policy-making;
c) communicate science in an appropriate and accessible way, to the right policy-makers, showing how it fits their policy needs.

The booklet explains key aspects of the UK policy-making process and gives links to some important information sources.

CAIWA 2007 Science-Policy Day

At the recent CAIWA2007 conference, a science-policy day was held that allowed scientists, policy makers and practitioners to learn from each on what we know and what we need to know for improved integrated and adaptive water management. Case studies from Europe (e.g. Rhine) and the rest of the world and key issues (e.g. Water quality and good ecological status- see slide above) were discussed in small structured group sessions. One key message that arose time and time again was the need for greater connectedness between science and governance at multiple scales.