Title: Challenges for the Natural and Social Sciences
1Working Together Across Disciplines
- Challenges for the Natural and Social Sciences
- David Chandler and Wyn Grant
2Why 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.
3Understanding 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)
4The 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.
5The 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.
6Political 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)
7The 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.
8Warwick 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.
9The research wheel
deductive
inductive
10The 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.
11Political 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.
12Some 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).
13What 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.
14What 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.
15Thanks to Justin Greaves, Gillian Prince Mark
Tatchell
Thanks for your attention