Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the publication on December 5th, 2006 of:

INTERFACES BETWEEN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
 
Edited by Ângela Guimarães Pereira, Sofia Guedes Vaz and Sylvia 
Tognetti, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Italy

November 2006 366 pp 234 x 156 mm 
Hardback ISBN 1 874719 97 7  GBP35.00 USD65.00 EUR 52.50
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To place an order for this title at a discount of 10%,
or to view/download ‘The Introduction’ by Sofia Guedes Vaz and Ângela 
Guimarães Pereira and
‘Transparency, openness and participation in science policy processes‘ 
by Maria Eduarda Gonçalves
please visit the brand new Greenleaf website at:

www.greenleaf-publishing.com
click on the book cover or ‘What’s New’

You can also request a review copy or inspection copy.
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The project of science has been to provide answers to questions about 
the world and how it works. Often, this lofty role has been 
characterised by a narrow and dogmatic scientific training, an 
unwillingness to communicate to differing stakeholder needs, a refusal 
to accept and to manage uncertainty, complexity and value commitments, 
and the reduction of knowledge assessment to colleague peer review on 
narrowly technical issues. Times have changed. As the world faces 
increasingly disparate challenges, science is subjected to increasingly 
vehement demands from a society calling for transparency, openness and 
public participation in science policy. Science is going through an 
evolutionary process. Perhaps the most painful process it has ever 
encountered.

Research on the interfaces between science and society is a burgeoning 
area. A new conception of knowledge now appears to be emerging, based 
on the awareness of complexity, uncertainty and a plurality of 
legitimate perspectives and interests. Democracy is extending into the 
previously quite exclusive scientific realm, and science must now 
submit to public scrutiny and participation in the governance of 
knowledge. This book provides much-needed reflections on the methods 
and tools for knowledge quality assurance, particularly on its inputs 
to extended policy and decision-making processes.

The overall aim is to improve the relationship between science and 
society. The discussion involves six themes: communicating between 
plural perspectives; accepting and learning how to manage uncertainty, 
complexity and value commitments; acknowledging new conceptions of 
knowledge; implementing transparency, openness and participation in 
science policy; valuing community-based research; and exploring how new 
ICT can support inclusive governance. Taken together, these themes 
provide both a framework and vision on how to conceive, discuss and 
evaluate the changes that are occurring. The chapters cover theory, 
practice, approaches, experiences, ideas and suggestions for a move 
beyond 'talking the talk' to 'walking the walk'.

Science and policy interfaces are dynamic processes needing to 
permanently redefine themselves and their roles. This book contributes 
to the enrichment and deepening of our understanding of these important 
new trends in the social relations of science, which are fundamental to 
our understanding of the prospects for further progress.

The book will be essential reading for scientists, policy-makers, 
managers and the public.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Sofia Guedes Vaz and Ângela Guimarães Pereira

1. When communication fails: a study of failures of global systems
Jerome Ravetz

2. Science for sustainable development: articulating knowledges
Gilberto Gallopín and Hebe Vessuri

3. Reflexively dealing with uncertainty and complexity in 
policy-related knowledge: what can it mean?
Matthieu Craye

4. Uncertainty, assumptions and value commitments in the knowledge base 
of complex environmental problems
Jeroen Van der Sluijs

5. Science for governance: the implications of the complexity revolution
Mario Giampietro, Tim Allen and Kozo Mayumi

6. Reflexivity and modesty in the application of complexity theory
Roger Strand and Sílvia Cañellas-Boltà


7. Precaution as an invigorating context for scientific input in policy 
processes
Cato C. ten Hallers-Tjabbes, David Gee and Sofia Guedes Vaz

8. Why knowledge assessment?
Silvio Funtowicz

9. Deliberating foresight knowledge for policy and foresight knowledge 
assessment
René Von Schomberg, Ângela Guimarães Pereira and Silvio Funtowicz

10. Transparency, openness and participation in science policy processes
Maria Eduarda Gonçalves

11. Interfaces between science and policy for environmental governance: 
lessons and open questions from the European Platform for Biodiversity 
Research Strategy
Sybille van den Hove and Martin Sharman

12. Patents at the interfaces among science, society and the law
Emanuela Gambini

13. Evaluating public and stakeholder engagement strategies in 
environmental governance
Jacquelin Burgess and Judy Clark

14. Community-based research
Jennifer A. Bellamy

15. Science and society in place-based communities: uncomfortable 
partners
David Waltner-Toews, Ligia Noronha and Dean Bavington

16. Science shops as science–society interfaces
Henk A.J. Mulder, Michael S. Jørgensen, Laura Pricope, Norbert 
Steinhaus and Anke Valentin

17. Building knowledge partnerships with ICT? Social and technological 
conditions of conviviality
Martin O’Connor

18. CSLoTs: communication of science to non-scientific audiences. 
VGAS©: exploration of energy, lifestyles and climate
Tiago de Sousa Pedrosa and Ângela Guimarães Pereira

19. Worldwide virtual network of practitioners working on science and 
society issues
Mercè Agüera Cabo and Ângela Guimarães Pereira

*********************************
To place an order for this title at a discount of 10%,
or to view/download ‘The Introduction’ by Sofia Guedes Vaz and Ângela 
Guimarães Pereira and
‘Transparency, openness and participation in science policy processes‘ 
by Maria Eduarda Gonçalves
please visit the brand new Greenleaf website at:

www.greenleaf-publishing.com
click on the book cover or ‘What’s New’

You can also request a review copy or inspection copy.
*********************************

Alternatively, please contact:

Jayney Bown
Greenleaf Publishing Ltd
Aizlewood Business Centre
Aizlewood's Mill
Nursery Street
Sheffield S3 8GG
UK

+44 (0)114 282 3475 - Telephone
+44 (0)114 282 3476 - Fax
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