A collaboratively-derived science-policy research agenda

The need for policy makers to understand science and for scientists to understand policy processes is widely recognised. However, the science-policy relationship is sometimes difficult and occasionally dysfunctional; it is also increasingly visible, because it must deal with contentious issues, or itself becomes a matter of public controversy, or both. We suggest that identifying key unanswered questions on the relationship between science and policy will catalyse and focus research in this field. To identify these questions, a collaborative procedure was employed with 52 participants selected to cover a wide range of experience in both science and policy, including people from government, non-governmental organisations, academia and industry. These participants consulted with colleagues and submitted 239 questions. An initial round of voting was followed by a workshop in which 40 of the most important questions were identified by further discussion and voting. The resulting list includes questions about the effectiveness of science-based decision-making structures; the nature and legitimacy of expertise; the consequences of changes such as increasing transparency; choices among different sources of evidence; the implications of new means of characterising and representing uncertainties; and ways in which policy and political processes affect what counts as authoritative evidence. We expect this exercise to identify important theoretical questions and to help improve the mutual understanding and effectiveness of those working at the interface of science and policy

Taxonomy and ecology of Cretaceous Cassiopidae (Mesogastropoda)

Volume: 44Start Page: 233End Page: 29

Authorship And Dates Of The Sowerbys\u27 Mineral Conchology Of Great Britain. Z.n.(S.) 2483

Volume: 42Start Page: 64End Page: 7

Predatory gastropods and their activities in the Blackdown Greensand (Albian) of England

Volume: 26Start Page: 521End Page: 55

More accurate publication dates for H.C. Andrews’ <i>The Heathery</i>, particularly volumes 5 and 6

Using three types of evidence—dated watermarks; dates of flow ering of Erica L. species in cultiv ation in England: dates on which Andrews prepared the original drawings—it is concluded that the six volumes of Henry Charles Andrews’  The Heathery were published as follows: volume 1. not earlier than June 1805; volume 2. not earlier than 1806: volume 3. 1806; volume 4, 1807; volume 5, not before 1816; volume 6. late in 1828 Consequently, most, if not all. of Andrews' new names  for Erica species were first published in Coloured engravings of heaths.