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The Past, Present and Future of the Chief Scientific Advisor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

James Wilsdon
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Extract

At the end of August 2014, scientists and policymakers from forty-eight countries gathered at the Heritage Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand to debate the science and art of scientific advice. Jointly hosted by Sir Peter Gluckman, chief scientific advisor to the PrimeMinister of NewZealand, and the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Auckland summit was the largest ever meeting of its kind, attracting science advisors, advisory bodies and academic experts fromAlbania to Zimbabwe, and a host of countries in between.

Over two days of intense discussion, participants debated structures and methods for the provision of scientific advice in emergency situations, across national and disciplinary boundaries, and on contested topics,where science, values and politics collide. The meeting ended with a call to strengthen collaboration between advisory systems, an agreement to formalize the network, and a commitment tomeet again in 2016. As Sir Peter Gluckman said afterwards: “Our goal was to start a global conversation on the practices and challenges of conveying science advice to governments…The meeting has highlighted a real thirst among practitioners to share models and lessons.”

Type
Symposium on the EU's Chief Scientific Advisor
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , September 2014 , pp. 293 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014

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References

1 Details of the Auckland summit can be found at: http://www.globalscienceadvice.org/. The author was a member of the conference organizing committee.

2 http://www.icsu.org/news-centre/news/top-news/science-advice-to-governments-comes-of-age-at-auckland-conference

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