Scientists as experts: A distinct role?

Gundersen, Torbjørn

doi:10.1016/j.shpsa.2018.02.006

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This article does not address the role of values in science as such but rather in the role scientists have as experts in expert bodies, such as agencies, panels, boards, and committees (for a systematic account of the distinct nature of this role, see Gundersen 2018). The legitimacy of experts in policymaking is derived mainly from their ability to produce a basis for public policymaking knowledge by providing vital observations and measurements, causal knowledge, and a risk analysis of natural phenomena, technologies, and human activities.…”

Section: The Value-free Ideal and The Role Of Scientists As Expertsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Value-Free yet Policy-Relevant? The Normative Views of Climate Scientists and Their Bearing on Philosophy

Gundersen

2020

Perspectives on Science

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This article contributes to the philosophical debate on values in science by exploring how scientists themselves understand the proper role of moral, political, and social values in expert practice. I present findings from interviews with climate scientists who have participated as authors in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The climate scientists subscribe to the value-free ideal as a regulative ideal that applies both to the provision of knowledge to policymakers and how they engage with political issues in the public sphere. Yet their views on the moral responsibility of scientists and the aim of providing policy-relevant output challenge the value-free ideal. The article suggests ways in which their views can be relevant to the philosophical discussion.

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Section: The Value-free Ideal and The Role Of Scientists As Expertsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Value-Free yet Policy-Relevant? The Normative Views of Climate Scientists and Their Bearing on Philosophy

Gundersen

2020

Perspectives on Science

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“…Science cannot free itself from social responsibilityespecially not if its own experiments take place within a real community and are not based solely on collected data or theoretical constructs. They don't act solely as researchers in policy labs, yet as experts with a certain amount of influence (Gundersen 2018).…”

Section: Classifying Ideal-typical Policy Labs In the Science-policy Nexusmentioning

confidence: 99%

From political motivation to scientific knowledge: classifying policy labs in the science-policy nexus

Trei

Hornung

Rychlik

et al. 2021

European Planning Studies

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Over the past two decades, Urban Living Labs (ULL) emerged as a special derivate of policy labs. These are a relatively young phenomenon that is characterized by a strong orientation towards design thinking and the generation of evidence for policy-making processes. Research on this topic is rising, yet there is need for more empirical evidence that informs explanations of how policy labs in general and ULLs in particular are successfully depoliticizing and objectifying debates in the science-policy nexus, for example in wicked areas such as sustainable transport policy. Drawing on two ULLs in local policy communities in Germany, the central research question asked is how different types of policy labs with diverging salience levels of science and politics effectively contribute to an evidence-based debate on policy solutions. Answering this question for a topic characterized by high levels of complexity, emotions, and uncertainty potentially provides generalizable insights for different types of policy labs:The results indicate that policy labs may effectively move the debate from political motivation to scientific knowledge, but only if science is given a real role within the policy lab.

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“…Hence, the warrants of expertise in the agency context are distinct from the warrants of ordinary scientific research. Claims made in the name of expertise are governed by considerations of policy-relevance, applicability, and manageability in a way that scientific claims in the context of ordinary research are not (Gundersen 2018, 7).…”

Section: Integrating the Commitmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accountability and the Multidimensional Mandate

Eriksen

2020

Political Research Quarterly

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Public organizations are subject to many kinds of control mechanisms and analysts worry that they often suffer from an “accountability overload.” This article argues that such diagnoses are typically set without an adequate demarcation criterion for identifying accountability practices and separating them from other kinds of interaction, such as strategic pursuit of power or reputational standing. In response, the suggestion is that accountability practices should be restricted to procedures that track the mandate of the organization. This requires clarification of how mandates can be seen as more than a mere heap of conflicting considerations. The concept of a “multidimensional mandate” is introduced as a heuristic for thinking about how different perspectives on organizational action can be integrated. The interpretive test for deciding if a procedure qualifies as an accountability practice is whether it is sufficiently sensitive to the intertwinement of the goals and commitments of the organization. Neither account-givers nor account-holders can legitimately refrain from orienting themselves in this broader normative framework.

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Scientists as experts: A distinct role?

Cited by 22 publications

References 20 publications

Value-Free yet Policy-Relevant? The Normative Views of Climate Scientists and Their Bearing on Philosophy

Value-Free yet Policy-Relevant? The Normative Views of Climate Scientists and Their Bearing on Philosophy

From political motivation to scientific knowledge: classifying policy labs in the science-policy nexus

Accountability and the Multidimensional Mandate

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