Yearly Archives: 2015

The net migration target may have failed, but it has shifted the way we debate immigration

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Figures released by the ONS today suggest that net migration to the UK stands at an all time high, at 336,000. The UK government’s pledge to reduce net migration ‘from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands’ seems further than ever from being achieved. So why hasn’t the government killed off this compromising   …Continue Reading


On evidence tools for public health policy

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A range of techniques and methods exist to assemble and present research findings in a way that will be ‘useful’ to policymakers. In public health, three of the most popular are Health Impact Assessments, systematic reviews, and economic decision-making tools (including cost-benefit analysis and scenario modelling). Despite the broadly shared goals, these methodologies have developed   …Continue Reading


SKAPE is 1 year old!

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We look back on a busy year, and talk about next steps for SKAPE SKAPE is celebrating its first anniversary today. We launched the Centre last June with a symposium on “Open Science, Open Society”, with guests Jill Rutter and Albert Weale. Other highlights of the year have included keynote lectures from Sheila Jasanoff, Jenny   …Continue Reading


Targeting brains, producing responsibilities: The use of neuroscience within British social policy

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In a range of areas, the neurosciences have been described as influential – changing, it seems, policies, ideas on mental health, and our notions selfhood more generally. In a Leverhulme Trust-funded project we are looking at the way the neurosciences are (and are not) adopted in policy, the media, and family life. In a recent   …Continue Reading


Targets, quantification and moral deliberation

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Much has been written about the ways in which quantified targets and performance indicators distort and compress the social dynamics they seek to represent. And scholars of science and technology studies have convincingly shown how such representations are not just descriptive but also performative, shaping our beliefs and norms about policy problems and appropriate responses.   …Continue Reading