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>> Are there any publications which are relevant? (I have
>> followed the web
>> suggestion of Anne Scott and I have that material.)
>
>What happened to this thread of discussion? It was a bit short of
>references wasn't it?
>
Hi, this is Sue Keen who asked the question in the first place. I was a
bit disappointed with the responses, and was planning to collate the little
I did receive and re-ask. However, there was very little. Here in Oz, we
have been busy since we just started teaching for the year, and there has
been no time to eat, let alone think about evidence-based anything!
However, my fascination comes from what I consider has been happening in
Australia to government funded research institutes, and that is pretty much
in the direction of demise. I don't have all the details - are there any
Oz members who could give more? - but for example, after we elected a
conservative government in 1996 (John Howard), the Bureau of Immigration
and Population Research was immediately defunded from a base of something
like $4m. Then there seemed to be some changes to staffing at the
Institute of Family Studies which were deemed political by some sections of
the media, and more recently our Social Policy Research Centre which has
had a good deal of basic research funding was forced to tender for some of
its original money and is now surviving on contract research and
collaborative grants of various kinds. It's almost like conservative
governments don't 'need to know' or perhaps 'don't want to know'.
So hearing that Blair has been a strong supporter of the idea of
evidence-based policy within Britain, and indeed the ESRC has been able to
fund five 'nodes' where the links between research and policy will be made,
and that there is strong governmental support - and indeed an All Party
Group on Social Science and Policy established by govt (but I don't know
ANYTHING about this either). So I'm really keen to hear more so that I can
come over in a year or so for an SSP and see how it has all gone - because
by then here in Oz we won't have evidence on much of anything, and maybe
there's hope that one day we can get some more!
So I'd be grateful to hear anything from anyone, and I will collate
responses for all once things quieten down a bit here (just put 350
students into classes, and they keep changing preferences....)
In hope
Susan
Dr Susan Keen
Senior Lecturer
School of Social Science and Policy
The University of New South Wales
UNSW SYDNEY NSW 2052
AUSTRALIA
Phone: International + 61-2-9385-3660
Fax: International + 61-2-9385-1040
Mobile: 0403-643-514
http://www.arts.unsw.edu.au/ssp/
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