中欧社会论坛 - China Europa Forum

Authors: Michael Rader

Science and technology are essential for the continued survival of humankind and to address the problems created for this by humans and nature. Many of these problems require complex solutions that involve political decision-making and cooperation between the various scientific disciplines working on the problems. To some extent, this is at odds with the trend towards the differentiation of existing scientific disciplines into ever more specialised sub-disciplines.

Research is now frequently triggered by societal needs and to a lesser extent by scientific curiosity. The problems addressed are usually urgent and cannot wait for scientifically validated, “sound” results. Projects have to cope with uncertain, controversial or disputed knowledge or in some cases with lack of knowledge or non-knowledge. In such circumstances, it is difficult for decision makers to know which experts to trust. Solutions proposed by scientists are perceived as being biased by the interest of these actors to secure funding for their own endeavours. There is thus a need for unbiased, high-quality scientific advice.

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