A blogpost by Marcos Gonzalez Hernando, Affiliated Researcher at the University of Cambridge, Senior Researcher at Think Tank for Action on Social Change (FEPS-TASC) More than ten years after Lehman Brothers’ file for bankruptcy, the economic and political fallout of the global economic crisis can still be felt. Its effects have not only been political   …Continue Reading

A blogpost by Martyn Pickersgill, Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society at The University of Edinburgh @PickersgillM The use of biological ideas and techniques in the study of mental ill-health and the practice of psychiatry is nothing new. But just because it isn’t new doesn’t mean that’s the only thing that’s going on in research and in the   …Continue Reading

A blogpost by Prof Paul Cairney, University of Stirling The story of ‘speaking truth to power’ comes up frequently in these science-policy debates. Many scientists describe their role in producing the best scientific evidence, seeking to maximise the role of scientific evidence in policy, and criticising policymakers vociferously if they don’t use evidence to inform   …Continue Reading

A blogpost by Dr. Sotiria Grek, University of Edinburgh As already widely debated by academics and policy actors alike, the OECD has instigated a new era in education governance, primarily through its construction of a commensurable transnational education space. Given the vast policy implications for systems worldwide, the predominant idea is that it is OECD’s   …Continue Reading

Prof. Susan Owens, Fellow of the British Academy, introduces her Skape Keynote Lecture, 30 May 2018 At a time when trust in expertise is widely believed to be in decline, this lecture addressed three interrelated sets of questions, with particular reference to the role of expert advisors in the policy processes of modern democracies, and   …Continue Reading

A blogpost by A blogpost by Morten Jerven (University of Edinburgh) This blog post is based on a talk at the SKAPE seminar on 2 May 2018 Perhaps one of the most challenging notion to take on board in the governance of today’s world is that not all that counts can be counted. We increasingly   …Continue Reading

A blogpost by Ariel Ducey, Department of Sociology, University of Calgary This blog post is based on a talk at the SKAPE seminar on 25 April 2018 For a number of years, I have been collaborating with colleagues in surgery, health services research, and bioethics in studying how and why a community of surgeons changes   …Continue Reading

A blogpost by John Boswell, University of Southampton This blog post is based on a talk at the SKAPE seminar on 11 April 2018 Among other atrocities, the last year or so has seen leading Brexiteers weasel out of their side-of-the-bus commitment to redirect £350 million per week to the NHS on leaving the EU;   …Continue Reading

A blogpost by Martyn Pickersgill, University of Edinburgh – @PickersgillM Research on the brain is increasingly drawn upon in policy-making and family services, with consequences for parenting advice and parenting practices. Especially in the early years of children’s lives, infant brains are said to grow rapidly, and this notion has informed policies around parenting and services for   …Continue Reading

Øyunn Syrstad Høydal, PhD candidate, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HIOA) This blog post informs a talk at the SKAPE seminar on 13 December 2017 10 years ago, I started work in the communication department of a Norwegian directorate. My background was from the private sector and one of the first things that   …Continue Reading