Public Policy

Development Experts Seek Help from Social Scientists
Impact
September 23, 2015

Development Experts Seek Help from Social Scientists

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How Sustainable is Sustainability Science?
Public Policy
September 21, 2015

How Sustainable is Sustainability Science?

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Obama Orders More Behavioral Science in Policy
Public Policy
September 15, 2015

Obama Orders More Behavioral Science in Policy

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Federal ‘Common Rule’ on Human Study Ethics Changing
International Debate
September 8, 2015

Federal ‘Common Rule’ on Human Study Ethics Changing

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Did the REF Ultimately Measure Who Got Most Grant Money?

Did the REF Ultimately Measure Who Got Most Grant Money?

If the funding allocated to universities on the basis of the REF is correlated to the amount of grant income universities already receive, what is the point of the output assessment process? Jon Clayden suggests this apparent double-counting exercise is not the best we can do.

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Life Itself is One Big Exercise of the Prisoner’s Dilemma

Life Itself is One Big Exercise of the Prisoner’s Dilemma

The professor whose use of the ‘prisoner’s dilemma’ in his class went viral here explains how that same piece of game theory can help bridge liberal and conservative differences.

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Even an Imperfect Metrics Regime Has Value

Even an Imperfect Metrics Regime Has Value

Jane Tinkler argues that if institutions like HEFCE specify a narrow set of impact metrics, more harm than good would come to universities forced to limit their understanding of how research is making a difference. But, she adds, qualitative and quantitative indicators continue to be an incredible source of learning for how impact works.

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Giving Euroscepticism an Honest Hearing

Giving Euroscepticism an Honest Hearing

A remarkably prescient special issue of the journal ‘International Political Science Review’ examines Euroscepticism’s migration ‘from the margins to the mainstream.’ Social Science Space talks to one of the issue’s guest editors.

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Bill: Make ‘National Interest’ Explicit in NSF Grants

Bill: Make ‘National Interest’ Explicit in NSF Grants

In February officials with the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Science Board trooped up […]

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Malaria Vaccine – Great Science But What’s the Point?

Malaria Vaccine – Great Science But What’s the Point?

Bully for the researchers who have developed a vaccine can build resistance against some instances of malaria, says Robert Dingwall. But before the WHO recommends for its adoption, he suggests a harder look at user-centered design and cost-benefit analysis may be in order.

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Making Sense of Screening: Public Expectations About Screening Still Don’t Match What Screening Programmes Can Deliver 

Making Sense of Screening: Public Expectations About Screening Still Don’t Match What Screening Programmes Can Deliver 

Misconceptions about how screening works, its limitations and possible harms are still being perpetuated by media stories and high profile cases, such […]

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Ebola: WHO and the Consequences of Ignoring Social Science

Ebola: WHO and the Consequences of Ignoring Social Science

A new report from the World Health Organization on the response to the African Ebola outbreak backs up what our Robert Dingwall has been writing all along — by downplaying social science lives have been lost. The question now is whether a new WHO can improve.

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