Open science communication: The first year of the UK's Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies
Year: 2022
Type: review
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the complex relationship between science and policy. Policymakers have had to make decisions at speed in conditions of uncertainty, implementing policies that have had profound consequences for people's lives. Yet this process has sometimes been characterised by fragmentation, opacity and a disconnect between evidence and policy. In the United Kingdom, concerns about the secrecy that initially surrounded this process led to the creation of Independent SAGE, an unofficial group of scientists from different disciplines that came together to ask policy-relevant questions, review the evolving evidence, and make evidence-based recommendations. The group took a public health approach with a population perspective, worked in a holistic transdisciplinary way, and were committed to public engagement. In this paper, we review the lessons learned during its first year. These include the importance of learning from local expertise, the value of learning from other countries, the role of civil society as a critical friend to government, finding appropriate relationships between science and policy, and recognising the necessity of viewing issues through an equity lens.
Source: Health Policy
Authors: Martin McKee, Danny Altmann, Anthony Costello, Karl Friston, Zubaida Haque, Kamlesh Khunti, Susan Michie, Tolullah Oni, Christina Pagel, Deenan Pillay, Steve Reicher, Helen Salisbury, Gabriel Scally, Kit Yates, Linda Bauld, Laura Bear, John Drury, Melissa Parker, Ann Phoenix, Elizabeth Stokoe, Robert West
Institutions: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Imperial College London, University College London, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, Runnymede Trust, University of Leicester, University of Cambridge, University of St Andrews, University of Oxford, Royal Society of Medicine, University of Bath, University of Edinburgh, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Sussex, Loughborough University
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,280
OpenAlex ID: W4205519983