// Latest Posts

Panel 5: Is it robust knowledge or make believe? – Evidence, uncertainty and the role of values (A. Cassidy, T. Johnson, S. Parkinson)

The below video features contributions from Dr Angela Cassidy (Department of History, King’s College London), Dr Timothy Johnson (Actuarial Mathematics and Statistics, Heriot-Watt University), Dr Stuart Parkinson (Executive Director, Scientists for Global Responsibility). The session includes presentations on the ongoing UK controversy over culling wild badgers, exploring how public and policy debates have turned upon multiple …

Research and values: Professor Steve Rayner

The below video features a keynote speech from Professor Steve Rayner, the James Martin Professor of Science and Civilization at Oxford University’s School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography and Director of the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, where he also co-directs the Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities and the Oxford Geoengineering Programme. …

Panel 4: ‘Citizen science’ and new social media (S. Jarvis, N. Lancastle, S. McLain, W. Pearce)

The below video features contributions from Dr Warren Pearce (Research Fellow, University of Nottingham), Neil Lancastle (Neil Lancastle, University of Leicester and ‘Rethinking Economics’), Professor Suzi Jarvis (Innovation Academy, University College Dublin) and Dr Sylvia McLain (Biochemistry, University of Oxford). The session includes presentations on how different social media communities debate and re-interpret scientific findings, …

Panel 3: Taking a stance or calming the waters- challenging established science (D. Dyer, R. Pielke Jr, J. A. Smith, S. Turner)

The below video features contributions from Dominic Dyer (Chief Executive of the Badger Trust), Professor Roger Pielke Jr (Center for Science and Technology Policy Research, University of Colorado Boulder), Dr Jane A. Smith (writer and researcher) and Professor Stephen Turner (Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, University of South Florida). The session included statements of vehement …

Research and policy making: Professor Ian Boyd

The below video features a keynote speech from Professor Ian Boyd FSB FRSE, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Professor in Biology at the University of St Andrews. Professor Boyd discussed the intractability (or ‘wickedness’) of many problems the government faces, best practice in science advice, the …

Panel 2: Researchers facing the media (David Colquhoun, Athene Donald, Felicity Mellor, Jon Turney)

The below videos features contributions from Professor David Colquhoun (FRS, Honorary Fellow, University College London), Professor Dame Athene Margaret Donald (DBE, FRS, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge), Dr Felicity Mellor (Senior Lecturer in Science Communication Studies, Imperial College London) and Dr Jon Turney, science writer and author. The session covered revolutions in academic publishing (such …

Research and the media: Dr Andy Williams

The below video features a keynote speech from Dr Andy Williams, Lecturer at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies and former RCUK Research Fellow in Risk, Health and Science Communication (2008-10). Dr Williams addressed recent research into UK journalists and their sources and what it tells us about the quality and independence of …

Panel 1: The science-policy interface (Daniele Fanelli, Sheila Jasanoff, Beth Taylor and Chris Tyler)

The below video features contributions from Daniele Fanelli (Visiting Professor, School of Library and Information Services, University of Montreal), Sheila Jasanoff (Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy School), Dr Beth Taylor (Chair of the UK National Committee for the International Year of Light 2015 and former Director of Communications at the Institute of Physics) …

Research and policy making: Professor Brian Collins

The below video features the opening keynote speech from Professor Brian Collins, Director of the Centre for Engineering Policy at UCL and former Chief Scientific Advisor to two government departments (Transport 2006-11; Business Innovation and Skills 2009-11). Professor Collins covered a wide range of issues, including the Haldane principle (the idea that research funding should be …

Launch of Circling the Square blog- the idea, rules for posting and schedule

We are pleased to launch the official, post-conference blog for Circling the Square. On 20th-22nd May 2014, a conference by that name was held in Nottingham, which generated a multitude of posts and comments across the blogosphere. So why a new blog? And why so late? First of all, we are presenting the full talks …