Responsible Scientific Advice for Responsible Policymaking: Awareness of Biases

Responsible Scientific Advice for Responsible Policymaking: Awareness of Biases

Friday, 8 June 2018 - 12:30pm to 2:00pm
Venue: 
Seminar Room, European Studies Centre, 70 Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6HR
Speaker(s): 
Lieve Van Woensel (European Union Fellow, European Studies Centre, St Antony's)...
Chair: 
Kalypso Nicolaïdis (European Studies Centre, St Antony's)
Discussant: 
Julie Girling (Member of the European Parliament)
Series: 
ESC Lunchtime Seminar

During her European Union Fellowship at the European Studies Centre, Dr Lieve Van Woensel investigated how biases influence scientific policy advising and criteria for responsible policy advice. In this seminar, she will present her research into how the human brain processes biases that arise in the advisory process, and she will explain how careful reflection on bias in the science-policy ecosystem, combined with systematic foresight thinking and other elements, can contribute to higher quality and more impartial policy advice. She will also discuss a new concept of Responsible Scientific Advice and argue that parliamentary scientific advisory services should be the guardians of robust advisory practices that support responsible policymaking.