Why social scientists should engage with natural scientists

Transcription

1 Why social scientists should engage with natural scientists Philip Lowe Oxford April 2013

2 Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte ( ) Social Physics later Sociology Queen of the Sciences - organised the lower sciences

3 Social scientists steering technical change in the mid/late 19 th century Social scientists as social engineers

4 20 th century disciplinary specialization/ interdisciplinary reaction The need for articulation of the disciplines Interdisciplinarity: periodic engagement/disengagement of the disciplines Different prompts for interdisciplinary collaboration: Educational; Academic; External/Societal

5 Claims for interdisciplinary research are that it can help: Introduce new framings of research problems Contextualise technological opportunities and environmental constraints Provide holistic solutions Improve accountability by opening up framing of problems and resource allocation decisions

6 periods of marching and periods of weaving. For a time, the different academic professions march forward separately but in parallel, each in its own special way; then, for a time, they join hands and work together on the general problems arising in the areas where their techniques overlap.

7

8 (Dis)engaging the Applied Social Sciences The changing relationship of social sciences towards technical R&D: 1950s-1970s Era of technological optimism 1970s-1990s Era of technological criticism/detachment 2000s Upfront engagement

9

10 (Dis)engaging the Applied Social Sciences The changing relationship of social sciences towards technical R&D: 1970s-1990s Era of technological criticism/ detachment Social scientists reject end of pipe role and address growing concerns over impacts of new technologies.

11 (Dis)engaging the Applied Social Sciences The changing relationship of social sciences towards technical R&D: 2000s Upfront reengagement? Interdisciplinary research bringing critical social analysis into the design of socio-technical change for sustainable development Laredokids.com

12 Climate Change: New imperative for interdisciplinarity Mirror.com

13 Engaging the sciences Technological solutions on their own will not suffice A need for new technologies to go with grain of social change and social innovation which creatively exploits technological opportunities Innovation as combined sociotechnical process

14 Engaging the sciences Heraldsun.com.au If social scientists don t construct the social, natural scientists will do it for them

15 Ecologists Construing of People Scientific Object Research Context Function of Discipline People construed as: Classical Ecology 1900 Natural organisms Natural conditions Saving and protecting wild nature Ecological audience Applied Ecology 1960 Natural organisms Natural/human systems Ecological management Ecological agents Sustainability Science 2000 Natural/human organisms Natural/human systems Environmental governance Ecological subjects

16 Social science shaping the direction of technology Telegraph.co.uk Aerospacetechnologycom

17 Engaging stakeholders in framing the debate

18 What use are social sciences in interdisciplinary projects: Roles Problem framing Public represent ation Systems analysis To Reflect on the appropriate definition of problems Help illuminate or facilitate expression and engagement of public, consumer and stakeholder preferences, values and motivations Understand the organisation and governance of complex systems Guardian.co.uk

19 The Relu (Rural Economy and Land Use) programme

20 Motivations for interdisciplinarity: problem framing

21 Motivations for interdisciplinarity: public representation

22 Motivations for interdisciplinarity: systems analysis

23 Relu: The challenge of collaboration

24 Are we speaking the same language?

25 Blinkered economists?

26 All pulling in the same direction? ASBC.org

27 Root-and-Branch Interdisciplinarity Individual researcher level Project level Programme management level Institutional level

28 Root-and-Branch Interdisciplinarity: The Researcher Level 500 natural and social scientists have experienced working together for 1-6 years Over 100 junior researchers trained in interdisciplinary methods Trials with interdisciplinary studentships and Early Career Fellowships Predominant model interdisciplinaryoriented disciplinarians rather than a new generation of hybrid interdisciplinarians

29 The Researcher Level Scientific Publishing More and more interdisciplinary journals, but tend to be lower impact The programme has negotiated interdisciplinary special issues of top disciplinary journals

30 Root-and-Branch Interdisciplinarity: The Project Level Interdisciplinary project teams required to effectively combine research staff, methods and perspectives Calling for strategic leadership in project management and innovation in project design Projects developed their own approach to interdisciplinary working and methods

31 The Project Level Assessment of Research Proposals Need for clear separation of peer review and assessment of project s interdisciplinary construction Need for assessors with breadth of understanding and experience of interdisciplinary research Psychology Ecology Zoology Anthropology Geography Planning Economics Biochemistry

32 Root-and-Branch Interdisciplinarity: The Programme Level Encouraging interdisciplinary capacity building seed-corn funding mechanisms workshops and conferences carefully orchestrated to promote shared perspectives Interdisciplinary training and career guidance to researchers

33 Unity of the social and environmental sciences in intervention mode Mode of science Observational Site of discovery/ invention Field Knowledge generated Natural observation, leading to induction Epistemological assumption All seeing, but detached and neutral observer Examples Classical environmental and social sciences Experimentation Laboratory Results of controlled experiment, leading to deduction All powerful experimenter, ensuring completely controlled and replicable conditions Physical and biological sciences Intervention Field Observation and experiment through intervention, leading to innovation Researchers learn through field interventions Action research, engineering, medicine, applied social and environmental sciences

34 Science in an unstable environment