Scientists face increasing pressure to demonstrate how their work contributes to societal objectives. Likewise, policy makers proposing environmental policies are often asked to provide the scientific basis on which their proposals are based. These twin pressures are forcing a closer connection between science and policy. In our view, policy-for-science-for-policy is a recursive process of defi...

This paper discusses key issues in the science-policy interface. It stresses the importance of linking the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity to the Millennium Development Goals and to issues of immediate concern to policy-makers such as the economy, security and human health. It briefly discusses the process of decision-making and how the scientific and policy communities have su...

In this dissertation research, I try to deepen the understanding of the logic and history behind the science of science policy approaches and to substitute for this scientific evidence-based science policy model an evidence-critical and -informed model in which scientific and democratic claims are promoted simultaneously. The science of science policy, or what I call the scientizing science pol...

Recent discussions in system dynamics have raised questions about the scientific acceptability of system dynamics and impact of system dynamics on social problems. This paper describes two different projects in the area of mental health services research—a research study recognized for its science and a consulting project making an impact on the policy process—and the institutional structures f...

While the optimism of this half-decade old statement of hope and confidence in the power off science and technology in overcoming poverty and inequality has been unfulfilled, it resonates strongly with beliefs currently gaining momentum that engaging in science and technology is “the trick of getting rich”. Sustained by widely shared notions about the increasing dependence of economic growth an...

Interest in the effect on society of scientific discoveries can be traced back to the beginnings of the modern sciences. It is plain to see that for reasons of legitimizing science alone, this question was not only of interest to the early scientists. Affirmative answers to the question of the practical virtues of science helped the first generation of scientists—and of course present-day scien...