Policymakers around the world are relying on the expertise of scientists to help make decisions around the COVID-19 pandemic. But how do scientists learn to advise policymakers? Noam Obermeister from Cambridge’s Department of Geography argues that this has been overlooked in the past, and suggests how studying their learning might help us prepare for future emergencies.
Cambridge researchers set out to define a new science for policy communications, with ambitions of finding the “Goldilocks zone” between too much and not enough information when informing both legislators and the public on complex issues.
Evidence shows that experts are frequently fallible, say leading risk researchers, and policy makers should not act on expert advice without using rigorous methods that balance subjective distortions inherent in expert estimates.
Dr Finbarr Livesey – University lecturer and Deputy Director of the MPhil in Public Policy – submitted research to Parliament’s recent report on digital democracy. Here, he discusses the report’s implications for the democratic process in the UK.
Aiming to improve policy-makers’ understanding of the imperfect nature of science, academics from the Universities of Cambridge and Melbourne have created a list of concepts that they believe should be part of the education of civil servants, politicians, policy advisers and journalists
Whether or not the planned intervention in the organisation of international banking sector succeeds, it will certainly impact on the City of London. Adrian Leonard, an Affiliate Researcher at the Centre for Financial History at Newnham College and the Centre for Risk Studies at Judge Business School, thinks his research into the history of the London insurance market offers hints for today’s policymakers.
© 2024 University of Cambridge