Challenges for the Natural and Social Sciences - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Challenges for the Natural and Social Sciences

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Title: Challenges for the Natural and Social Sciences


1
Working Together Across Disciplines
  • Challenges for the Natural and Social Sciences
  • David Chandler and Wyn Grant


2
Why collaboration is needed
  • Many global problems can only be addressed by
    such collaboration
  • climate change, GM technology, stem cell therapy
  • Emphasis on evidence-based policy-making.
  • More public scrutiny of natural science.

3
Understanding communication
  • Scientists must become better communicators.
  • Public understanding of scientific process (Hails
    Dale, 2005).
  • Social scientists need to understand natural
    science vice versa..
  • Public value of science (Wilsdon et al., 2005)

4
The challenge for social natural scientists
  • To develop a common language effective
    methodological framework.
  • A key aim of the RELU programme our project on
    biopesticides in particular.

5
The obstacles
  • Endogenous features of disciplines
  • e.g. stick to what you know, perceived
    theoretical incompatibilities.
  • Lack of a common framework within which to
    conduct research.
  • Structural features of universities and RAE.
  • Training and professional regulation.

6
Political science and biology the possibilities
of partnership
  • UK political science defined by eclecticism
    junction subject
  • Political science has drawn on social biology (W
    J M Mackenize).
  • Punctuated equilibrium models draw on
    evolutionary biology. (Baumgartner Jones)

7
The opportunities of partnership
  • Political scientists interested in interactions
    between entities setting.
  • Political science biology have an interest in
    adaptation to environment.
  • Heightened importance of environment life
    science issues creates new opportunities for
    collaboration.

8
Warwick the learning curve
  • Biologists thought that political scientists may
    be identified with a particular political
    position.
  • Political scientists had little awareness of
    molecular or systems biology.
  • Use theories to drive and test hypotheses in
    similar ways.

9
The research wheel
deductive
inductive
10
The practical solution
  • Reading literature from the other discipline and
    presenting it to team meetings.
  • Allowed understanding of methodologies and
    vocabularies.
  • Political scientists write more discursively.

11
Political biological sciences Some similar
challenges
  • Debate in biological science about what
    constitutes a species.
  • Similar taxonomic dilemmas in study of politics.
  • Unit of analysis issues relate to risks of
    committing individual or ecological fallacies.
  • Scaling up problem in biology.

12
Some similarities differences
  • Both disciplines use comparison
  • Controlled experiments norm in biology, role of
    model species.
  • Human behaviour more diverse use the concept of
    the median voter but not identify one (the search
    for Worcester woman).

13
What each discipline gains
  • Political science can help with translating
    natural science evidence into policies.
  • Can help natural scientists to appreciate
    constraints faced by decision-makers.
  • Political scientists need scientific advice to
    participate effectively in highly technical
    regulatory debate.

14
What each discipline gains (2)
  • Knowledge of scientists about decision-making
    policy networks could be placed in a more
    systematic framework
  • Political science helped biologists to be more
    deductive and theoretically guided.
  • A very positive experience thanks to the project
    team.

15
Thanks to Justin Greaves, Gillian Prince Mark
Tatchell
Thanks for your attention
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