Open science communication: The first year of the UK's Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
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Authors
McKee, Martin
Altmann, Danny
Costello, Anthony
Friston, Karl
Haque, Zubaida
Khunti, Kamlesh
Michie, Susan
Oni, Tolullah
Pagel, Christina
Pillay, Deenan
Reicher, Steve
Salisbury, Helen
Scally, Gabriel
Yates, Kit
Bauld, Linda
Bear, Laura
Drury, John
Parker, Melissa
Phoenix, Ann
Stokoe, Elizabeth
West, Robert
Publication Date
2022-03Journal Title
Health Policy
ISSN
0168-8510
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
McKee, M., Altmann, D., Costello, A., Friston, K., Haque, Z., Khunti, K., Michie, S., et al. (2022). Open science communication: The first year of the UK's Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.. Health Policy https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.01.006
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.
Keywords
Public Engagement, Science Policy, Science Communication, Covid-19, Humans, Emergencies, Communication, Pandemics, United Kingdom, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/R00529X/1)
Identifiers
PMC8760632, 35140018
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.01.006
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/334943
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