Public Policy

Shutdowns: The Misfire Next Time
Academic Funding
October 1, 2015

Shutdowns: The Misfire Next Time

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Evidence-Based Policy: The Challenges
Impact
September 24, 2015

Evidence-Based Policy: The Challenges

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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

Obama Orders More Behavioral Science in Policy

America’s own ‘nudge unit’ celebrates its first birthday with a report outlining the low-cost ways that applied social and behavioral research is improving government services, saving money and raising revenue.

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Federal ‘Common Rule’ on Human Study Ethics Changing

Federal ‘Common Rule’ on Human Study Ethics Changing

Four years in the making, a proposed version of the federal ‘Common Rule’ for research on human subjects includes a full suite of social and behavioral science-influenced directives that past versions of the rule lacked.

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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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