Challenges for the Natural and Social Sciences

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Working Together Across Disciplines

• Challenges for the Natural and Social Sciences
• David Chandler and Wyn Grant

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Main projects

• Environmental and regulatory sustainability of
  biopesticides RELU 1, 350k (PAIS HRI)
• Governance of livestock diseases RELU 3, 1m
  (PAIS, Economics, Law, Biological Sciences)
• Environmental footprint of horticulture Defra,
  100,000
• REBECA policy action European Commission

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Interdisciplinarity trend

• RELU programme
• Appointment to BBSRC panel
• Willingness of BBSRC to fund social scientists
• Establishment of International Science Policy
  Centre by Royal Society
• Collaboration with biological scientists
  achievable superstring theory!

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Political biological sciences Some similar
challenges

• Debate in biological science about what
  constitutes a species lumpers and splitters
• 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.

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Some similarities differences

• Both disciplines use comparison
• Controlled experiments norm in biology, role of
  model species.
• Human behaviour more diverse no model plant
  (Arabidopis thlania) use the concept of the
  median voter but not identify one (the search for
  Worcester woman).

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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.

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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.

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