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Interfaces Between Science and Society

  • 1.  Interfaces Between Science and Society

    Posted 12-05-2006 06:20
    Dear Colleagues,

    We are pleased to announce the publication on December 5th, 2006 of:

    INTERFACES BETWEEN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
     
    Edited by Ângela Guimarães Pereira, Sofia Guedes Vaz and Sylvia
    Tognetti, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Italy

    November 2006 366 pp 234 x 156 mm 
    Hardback ISBN 1 874719 97 7 GBP35.00 USD65.00 EUR 52.50
    *********************************
    To place an order for this title at a discount of 10%,
    or to view/download ‘The Introduction’ by Sofia Guedes Vaz and Ângela
    Guimarães Pereira and
    ‘Transparency, openness and participation in science policy processes‘
    by Maria Eduarda Gonçalves
    please visit the brand new Greenleaf website at:

    www.greenleaf-publishing.com
    click on the book cover or ‘What’s New’

    You can also request a review copy or inspection copy.
    *********************************
    The project of science has been to provide answers to questions about
    the world and how it works. Often, this lofty role has been
    characterised by a narrow and dogmatic scientific training, an
    unwillingness to communicate to differing stakeholder needs, a refusal
    to accept and to manage uncertainty, complexity and value commitments,
    and the reduction of knowledge assessment to colleague peer review on
    narrowly technical issues. Times have changed. As the world faces
    increasingly disparate challenges, science is subjected to increasingly
    vehement demands from a society calling for transparency, openness and
    public participation in science policy. Science is going through an
    evolutionary process. Perhaps the most painful process it has ever
    encountered.

    Research on the interfaces between science and society is a burgeoning
    area. A new conception of knowledge now appears to be emerging, based
    on the awareness of complexity, uncertainty and a plurality of
    legitimate perspectives and interests. Democracy is extending into the
    previously quite exclusive scientific realm, and science must now
    submit to public scrutiny and participation in the governance of
    knowledge. This book provides much-needed reflections on the methods
    and tools for knowledge quality assurance, particularly on its inputs
    to extended policy and decision-making processes.

    The overall aim is to improve the relationship between science and
    society. The discussion involves six themes: communicating between
    plural perspectives; accepting and learning how to manage uncertainty,
    complexity and value commitments; acknowledging new conceptions of
    knowledge; implementing transparency, openness and participation in
    science policy; valuing community-based research; and exploring how new
    ICT can support inclusive governance. Taken together, these themes
    provide both a framework and vision on how to conceive, discuss and
    evaluate the changes that are occurring. The chapters cover theory,
    practice, approaches, experiences, ideas and suggestions for a move
    beyond 'talking the talk' to 'walking the walk'.

    Science and policy interfaces are dynamic processes needing to
    permanently redefine themselves and their roles. This book contributes
    to the enrichment and deepening of our understanding of these important
    new trends in the social relations of science, which are fundamental to
    our understanding of the prospects for further progress.

    The book will be essential reading for scientists, policy-makers,
    managers and the public.

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    Introduction
    Sofia Guedes Vaz and Ângela Guimarães Pereira

    1. When communication fails: a study of failures of global systems
    Jerome Ravetz

    2. Science for sustainable development: articulating knowledges
    Gilberto Gallopín and Hebe Vessuri

    3. Reflexively dealing with uncertainty and complexity in
    policy-related knowledge: what can it mean?
    Matthieu Craye

    4. Uncertainty, assumptions and value commitments in the knowledge base
    of complex environmental problems
    Jeroen Van der Sluijs

    5. Science for governance: the implications of the complexity revolution
    Mario Giampietro, Tim Allen and Kozo Mayumi

    6. Reflexivity and modesty in the application of complexity theory
    Roger Strand and Sílvia Cañellas-Boltà


    7. Precaution as an invigorating context for scientific input in policy
    processes
    Cato C. ten Hallers-Tjabbes, David Gee and Sofia Guedes Vaz

    8. Why knowledge assessment?
    Silvio Funtowicz

    9. Deliberating foresight knowledge for policy and foresight knowledge
    assessment
    René Von Schomberg, Ângela Guimarães Pereira and Silvio Funtowicz

    10. Transparency, openness and participation in science policy processes
    Maria Eduarda Gonçalves

    11. Interfaces between science and policy for environmental governance:
    lessons and open questions from the European Platform for Biodiversity
    Research Strategy
    Sybille van den Hove and Martin Sharman

    12. Patents at the interfaces among science, society and the law
    Emanuela Gambini

    13. Evaluating public and stakeholder engagement strategies in
    environmental governance
    Jacquelin Burgess and Judy Clark

    14. Community-based research
    Jennifer A. Bellamy

    15. Science and society in place-based communities: uncomfortable
    partners
    David Waltner-Toews, Ligia Noronha and Dean Bavington

    16. Science shops as science–society interfaces
    Henk A.J. Mulder, Michael S. Jørgensen, Laura Pricope, Norbert
    Steinhaus and Anke Valentin

    17. Building knowledge partnerships with ICT? Social and technological
    conditions of conviviality
    Martin O’Connor

    18. CSLoTs: communication of science to non-scientific audiences.
    VGAS©: exploration of energy, lifestyles and climate
    Tiago de Sousa Pedrosa and Ângela Guimarães Pereira

    19. Worldwide virtual network of practitioners working on science and
    society issues
    Mercè Agüera Cabo and Ângela Guimarães Pereira

    *********************************
    To place an order for this title at a discount of 10%,
    or to view/download ‘The Introduction’ by Sofia Guedes Vaz and Ângela
    Guimarães Pereira and
    ‘Transparency, openness and participation in science policy processes‘
    by Maria Eduarda Gonçalves
    please visit the brand new Greenleaf website at:

    www.greenleaf-publishing.com
    click on the book cover or ‘What’s New’

    You can also request a review copy or inspection copy.
    *********************************

    Alternatively, please contact:

    Jayney Bown
    Greenleaf Publishing Ltd
    Aizlewood Business Centre
    Aizlewood's Mill
    Nursery Street
    Sheffield S3 8GG
    UK

    +44 (0)114 282 3475 - Telephone
    +44 (0)114 282 3476 - Fax
    sales@greenleaf-publishing.com

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