One only has to be reminded of the BSE crisis and the MMR vaccine scare to recognise the importance of having policy informed by the best available science. Now, a collaboration of over fifty academics and policy makers from around the world have come together to agree a new research agenda on the role of science in public policy. The findings appeared yesterday Friday, 09 March in PLoS ONE, a leading interdisciplinary open-access journal.
The importance of using science for public policy has long been recognised, but recent years have seen a growing debate over how this is best achieved. ‘Evidence-based policy’ has become the desired norm, and this has led to a greater embedding of scientists alongside other specialists in public policy. In many governments, scientists are engaged at a senior level. For example, in the UK, in addition to the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, all government departments have a dedicated Chief Scientific Adviser post.
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Image: Beakers: Amy-Loves-Yah from Flickr
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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