master class

							Working Together Across
      Disciplines

Challenges for the Natural and
       Social Sciences
David Chandler and Wyn Grant
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
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!
  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.
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)
     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.
              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.
    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)
           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.
   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.
       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.
   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.
  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’).
  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.
  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.
                 Thanks to:
Justin Greaves, Gillian Prince & Mark Tatchell




       Thanks for your attention