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Solly Zuckerman was the first chief scientific advisor to the UK government, and arguably one of the first to hold such a post in the world.

Politicians don’t really have a great understanding of the citizens they serve, according to Michael Bang Petersen.

Foresight methodology helps science advisors check their blindspots, recognise their biases, and figure out the second- and third-order ripple effects of even the most innocuous of policy interventions. And Dr Lieve Van Woensel of the European Parliament, who talks to SAPEA’s Toby Wardman in this episode, quite literally wrote the book on foresight. Resources mentioned … Read more

Dr Scott Bremer brings Toby Wardman up to speed on topics such as the inadequacy of the supply/demand dichotomy, the challenges of fitting the square peg of science into the round holes of real-world policy decisions, the relationship between scientific knowledge and other forms of knowing, and why he moonlights as a gardening therapist by the Norwegian fjords.

The way you frame a question can lead to radically different answers — even though different framings are equally valid. How does science advice help to meet these challenges?

Working at the science-policy interface requires a range of skills, knowledge and attitudes.

Fresh from their work collecting evidence to inform screening programmes in the EU, Professors Rebecca Fitzgerald and Harry De Koning discuss the role of evidence in cancer screening policy and how it interfaces with clinical judgement and patient choice.

Could the implications of science advice, and the policies that follow from it, be decided by a citizen jury following a courtroom battle between scientific adversaries?

Migration policy is an area where high-minded principles drive headlong into authentic realpolitik.