The Utopia of a Sustainable Planet
In this article the authors argue for a utopia driven by SDG’s and respectful engagement with nature.
Opportunities and Limitations of Evidence-Based Policy Advice for Evidence-Based Policy-Making
Holger Bähr on the strengths and pitfalls of evidence-based policy advice in policy-making precesses
A call for an alliance between female academic leaders and early career researchers to improve the academic STEM system
This opinion piece draws attention to the disadvantage of the academic STEM system, especially for female academics.
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In light of the current war in the Ukraine we have decided to open a telegram group and a telegram bot which will provide information on support for researchers and students from Ukraine.
We will open the group so that information can be exchanged, knowledge shared and advice given. In the upcoming weeks we will post recommendations, initiatives, share interviews and experiences and try to provide as much information as possible that could be useful in any way. Our approach is a collaborative, bottom-up one – so feel free to contribute with relevant information.
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Are researchers the better politicians? Probably not. Or at least not necessarily. Politics and science work in fundamentally different ways and strive for their respective rationales. So being a good scientist does not necessarily qualify you to be a good politician. But at the same time, scientific advice can be crucial for well-founded and informed decision making. Providing scientific advice to politics and society has therefore long been part of the scientific community’s job description and has gained tremendous momentum in recent years. Elaborate systems for providing scientific policy advice have emerged in many countries, and in crises – such as Covid 19 – they have once again been able to demonstrate whether they can withstand such a stress test.
In the course of the pandemic, familiar problems became visible again. And while for a long time only experts and practitioners debated the work mode of scientific policy advice, it has suddenly become a public debate. What does good scientific advice for politics look like? Who is legitimately asked for advice and who offers it? How does good advice find its recipient? Is it better to give advice publicly or confidentially? How does the scientific system reward such commitment? How does quality assurance work? These are the questions we want to explore and find the holy grail of the best advice possible…
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Who is an expert? Inclusion and exclusion of expertise in global pandemic prevention
The case of pandemic prevention is one of many examples to show that holistic perspectives in disaster prevention and related fields have gained prominence in recent years.
Out of the Box: Extended Peer Review as Quality Assurance in Scientific Policy Advice
This short analysis is showing up ways of how the quality of scientific policy advice, as an important part of the recognition of scientific activity, can be checked and how these processes and results can be made usable again for science.
What the Covid-19 experience has taught us about the limits of evidence-informed policy making
In this short analysis P. Atkinson highlights the uncertainties associated with the field of evidence-informed policy making, especially in crisis situations such as Covid-19.
Running from missiles: How Ukrainian researchers experience the war
Carrying museum artefacts in a suitcase and evacuating university hardware while hiding in shelters. This is the new reality for Ukrainian researchers. Elephant in the lab talked to two of them.
Surveillance Publishing
Jefferson Pooley on Surveillance Publishing, its history in modern societies during the last couple of decades, and the potential costs of these practices for both service providers and their users.
Trust at the interface of environmental research and policy
Karcher and Shellock on trust at the science-policy interface, how can you build trust when working with decision-makers and what can you do when it has been compromised or lost.
ploc – an app to discover and improve research
The pocket library for open content is an application designed to simplify the search for openly available research content and lay ground for a basic quality assurance mechanism.
Another Year in Elephants
A wrap up of 2021 on Elephant in the Lab by the Editorial Team
How to find the right Survey Tool: Problems and Proposals
Sami Nenno on the typical problems of the most common service providers for conducting online surveys and how to find the right one for your own project.