Open AccessScience for policy: the need for a Commission for Science
Author(s) -
Shaun Hendy
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
policy quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2324-1101
pISSN - 2324-1098
DOI - 10.26686/pq.v12i3.4608
Subject(s) - commission , science policy , public policy , political science , scientific evidence , management science , engineering ethics , public administration , economics , epistemology , engineering , law , philosophy
There is growing interest in the use of scientific research for informing public policy (Gluckman, 2011). Science has shown itself increasingly able to make predictions of catastrophic harms many decades in advance, as well as suggesting ways in which these harms may be avoided. Scientific methodologies are now also being drawn on in many other areas of policy. Randomised controlled trials (RCT) and related statistical and experimental techniques are starting to be used to evaluate the effectiveness of existing policy and to experiment with the development of new policies, for instance (Pearce and Raman, 2014).