Ciência e Política

Interesse da Investigação

Political decisions are risky. They are often made in a context of uncertainty, time constraints, multiple pressures and economic restrictions. Decisions in (or involving) S&T routinely bring even more problems: lack of information, public fears, ethical and environmental questions. Advice to politicians should be technical and scientific, social and integrative.

In reality,

- How well do politicians understand the risks and uncertainties involved in new technologies?
- What about the science advisers?
-How much do public policies feed on public fears? (and vice versa)

We try to answer some of these questions by developing novel techniques to help us identify patterns and trends in large datasets. We are using two different approaches:

1) By analyzing social networks and data from search engines we expect to generate a dataset of patterns and trends. These patterns can be compared to the implementations of different political decisions, or to the media coverage they received.

2) By surveying large groups of people, including scientists, policy-makers and the general public we propose to analyze their knowledge and levels of fear. This dataset should identify not only the actual knowledge, but also the conscious perceptions of risks. Naturally, both datasets can be compared to distinguish between unconscious trends and rational doubts.

This complex system approach can serve as a tool to analyze different policy decisions (and its consequences) in areas as diverse as nuclear energy, GMOs, pollution, etc.

Our ultimate goals are to engage scientists and researchers in the policy-making process and to contribute to a more knowledgeable and critical society.

Funding
Welcome II Programme, co-funded by the FCT and the Marie Curie Action Cofund

Membros do Grupo