The COVID-19 pandemic has raised difficult questions at the intersection of science and policy.
, professor of science and technology studies in the 麻豆视频 and 麻豆视频, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), as well as a grant from the (CCSS), for an ambitious research project on COVID-19 policies across different countries.
The project aims to shed light on the relationship between expertise, trust and policymaking during the crisis.
鈥淭o avert catastrophic health and economic outcomes, policymakers need to be both fast and right,鈥 Hilgartner said. 鈥淭hat is tough when you have to deal with gaps in knowledge, fast-moving events that don鈥檛 respect geopolitical borders, and a complex policy environment. Polarized politics and disagreements among experts compound this problem. Yet during a pandemic, identifying trustworthy sources of expertise is a life-and-death matter.鈥
Hilgartner and Sheila Jasanoff, professor of science and technology studies at Harvard University, will lead a team of established STS scholars from 10 countries who will start on this work immediately. The research team hopes publishable results in a few months will make both short-term and long-term contributions.
Different countries have different ways of identifying trustworthy sources of expertise, Hilgartner said. A country鈥檚 institutions, traditions and cultural commitments shape its way of gathering knowledge, shaping policy and convincing the public.
鈥淐omparing countries offers a chance to learn from their varied experiences and may help to identify best practices,鈥 Hilgartner said.
The research team will compare 10 countries: Austria, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. It will also compare several U.S. states, and expects to add India and some developing countries. The NSF grant will fund a postdoctoral researcher based at Cornell; the CCSS provided additional funding for a Cornell graduate research assistant.
By the end of 2020, Hilgartner said, a series of country reports will be available free online and will serve as a basis for further analysis, peer-reviewed publications, and an edited collection.
He hopes that, in the short term, early results will encourage countries to learn from each other as they make policies to address the current pandemic.
In the longer term, he said, 鈥淲e hope that an improved understanding of how governments can more effectively secure robust knowledge for policymaking will help when the next global crisis hits.鈥
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