The elitism of science policy

I had always believed that science policy was the domain only of experts, who should be solely in charge of the entire enterprise. My definition of experts included largely scientists and perhaps a few experienced bureaucrats. That was it. No one else, in my world, had any role to play when it came to deciding where the public funds on science should be spent. Until last week, that was my position. I was wrong.

Two independent events changed my perspective. Let me first explain the typical position that I shared with many colleagues and what two events changed my position.

In recent times, science policy has become synonymous with a certain level of elitism. Somehow, we have come to this agreement that if you are not one with long titles and high degrees, you have no knowledge or capacity to make sane decisions in science policy. The manifestation of this decision is that a farmer in a rural town has little capacity to say what we should invest in when we invest in science.

The readers may argue, and rightfully so, that a farmer who has little formal education may not understand the latest trends in science. Indeed, they would be right. But that does not mean that the farmer does not care about what ails his crops, or is not worrying about the changing climate. In fact, I would argue that he or she is probably much more aware of the realities on the ground than the ones who sit far away in the capital.

I am not arguing here against higher education or scientific research or the pillars of the scientific method. Not at all. I have, and will continue to defend with full vigour, the importance of rigour, careful analysis and highest quality of peer review. But that does not mean that the observations of those who are at the forefront are not important, or that they have no ability to contribute to the national science debate. The problem I have is not with science, with higher education, or research — the problem I have is with exclusion of those who may have a lot to say but are excluded because they do not fit the mould of a science policy expert.

So why did my position change, or let us say, become more inclusive? First, I spent some time with Dr. Manuel Heitor, the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal, who has spent a career in understanding innovation ecosystems and public policy. He argued, with strong examples and with deep insight, that the top-down approach where the government policy experts are the only ones deciding where to spend public funds in science is inefficient and hardly conducive to creating an innovation ecosystem. One of the brilliant (and unusual) programmes he is pursuing is to give the public the option to tell the government where to spend a small part of the science budget. The portion of the science budget dedicated for this is just a percentage or two, but the point is significant. Let the people tell the government about the problems they care about, and let us invest in those areas. Be it health, water or climate, let people be part of the conversation and the policy debate.

The second event was a meeting in Brussels titled “Science and Policy-Making: towards a new dialogue”. The opportunity allowed me to talk to national science advisers, policymakers, scientists and non-scientists from around the world and I came to appreciate that science policy only works when it focuses on dialogue, inclusion and the necessity to engage all groups of citizens in national science policy. In particular, colleagues from the Global Young Academy, a group of young scientists, researchers and thinkers, enabled me to understand the fundamental ailments of exclusion and elitism that affect our science policy.

I am not one to put bounds on science, but I do believe that science pursued with public funds should be spent on what is good for society in a broad sense, and should include the voices of the people, regardless of whether they wear a lab coat or not.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2016.

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