Dear all

This is an announcement of a symposium on *Science, Communication and 
Policy* on June 15-16 at Strathclyde in Glasgow. The symposium will be 
hosted by Science Communication and Management Working Group of the 
Public Interest Research Network and the Occupational and Environmental 
Health and Safety Research Group at Stirling University

The symposium will focus on the production, communication and use of 
scientific knowledge, particularly as it relates to matters of public 
policy and public controversy.

The theme of the symposium will be to interrogate the regular public 
controversies about the status of science and how it is used in the 
public domain. A feature of these is the varying perceptions of risk 
amongst the public, scientists and policy makers. The question we want 
to open up for further investigations is the role not just of the media 
in such processes but the role of communication and power in the whole 
process of the production, distribution and consequences of 'science' in 
the policy process. Thus we are interested in:

    *Transparency and accountability in science - including in terms of
    peer review and the declaration of interests by scientists.
    *The relationship between funding regimes, the practice of science
    and the knowledge/products produced.
    *Communicating science in the classroom, via 'science education', in
    museums, by learned bodies, through advertising, marketing and the
    media.
    *The relationship between the public relations industry and science,
    including the creation of front groups, ghost writing other third
    party techniques.
    *The role of science and scientific knowledge in lobbying and policy
    processes including in expert advisory groups and committees
    *The role of communication in the implementation of policy on
    science - through for example the information programmes of
    regulatory bodies and government departments

*Speakers* so far confirmed include:

    * Prof *John Abraham* (Sussex) on Expert involvement in regulation.
    * *Marisa de Andrade* (Strathclyde) Pharmaceutical regulation and
      communication
    * *Aubrey Blumensohn* (Scientific Misconduct Blog and formerly
      University of Sheffield) The undermining of pharmacology - hidden
      data and other weapons of mass deception
    * *Courtney Davis* (Sussex) Patient groups and pharmaceutical governance
    * *Joan Haran* (Cardiff) Pressure Groups, Luddites and Moralists: On
      the ‘hijacking’ of public consultation in the hybrid embryo case
    * *Claire Harkins* (Strathclyde) Corporate science and alcohol policy
    * *Yoon Loke* (East Anglia) Transparency, declaration of interests
      and funding regimes
    * *Leemon McHenry* (California State University, research consultant
      to the Baum Hedlund law firm in Los Angeles, Visiting Professor in
      philosophy at Edinburgh) on Privatization of Knowledge and the
      Creation of Biomedical Conflicts of Interest
    * Prof *David Miller *(Strathclyde), Public relations for science
    * Prof *Andrew Watterson* (Stirling) Governing occupational health risks
    * *Andrew Williams* (Cardiff) Science communication and newspaper
      coverage of the hybrid/admixed embryos affair, Jan 2006 - March 2008


We are open to discussions of these themes in relation to a variety of 
issues but especially including alcohol and public health; occupational 
and environmental health; climate change; nuclear energy; GM; food and 
obesity; alleged health risks from new technologies.

We have organised the symposium in the same week as the conference 
Condition Critical: Health Care, Marketising reforms and the Media, 
which takes place in Coventry from 17-20 June, so that international 
visitors may be able to extend their stay to take in both events. 
(http://www.healthp.org/node/272)

*Outcomes*
The symposium is intended to be one of a number of events planned by the 
Science Management and Communication Working Group of the Public 
Interest Research Network. We intend to gather a selection of the papers 
presented at the event and publish them in a journal special issue. We 
have approached /Social Science and Medicine/ about this possibility and 
we intend to follow through their process of submission.

*Call for further contributions.*

We are opening the symposium up to a small number of additional 
contributions. If you would like to present a paper at the symposium 
plase get back to me (and Penny Taylor - [log in to unmask]) with 
a brief (200 words max) abstract. The deadline for abstracts is Tuesday 
6 May.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best

David Miller (Strathclyde) and Andrew Watterson (Stirling)

www.publicinterest.ac.uk

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