Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 2021
A possible way to alleviate the public skepticism toward regulatory science is to increase transp... more A possible way to alleviate the public skepticism toward regulatory science is to increase transparency by making all data and value judgments used in regulatory decision making accessible for public interpretation, ideally early on in the process, and following the concepts of Open Science. This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges in strengthening Open Science initiatives in regulatory environmental risk assessment (ERA). In this discussion paper, we argue that the benefits associated with Open Science in regulatory ERA far outweigh its perceived risks. All stakeholders involved in regulatory ERA (e.g., governmental regulatory authorities, private sector, academia, and nongovernmental organizations), as well as professional organizations like the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, can play a key role in supporting the Open Science initiative, by promoting the use of recommended reporting criteria for reliability and relevance of data and tools used in E...
The data are from two 3x2 full factorial design experiments examine how exposure to a scientist r... more The data are from two 3x2 full factorial design experiments examine how exposure to a scientist reporting values in science communication influences citizens' positive affect toward and perceived trust in the scientist.
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Nov 4, 2019
Ecological research increasingly relies on broad-scale databases containing information collected... more Ecological research increasingly relies on broad-scale databases containing information collected by personnel from a variety of sources, including government agencies, universities, and citizen-science programs. However, the contribution of citizen-science programs to these databases is not well known. We analyzed one such database to quantify the contribution of citizen science to lake water-quality data from seven US states. Citizen-science programs not only provided over half of the observations for commonly sampled water-quality measures (water clarity, nutrients, and algal biomass) from the past 31 years, but also contributed to the majority of long-term monitoring (>15 years) for selected measures in lakes. While previous studies have demonstrated the usefulness of citizen science for research, management, policy, and public engagement, our study demonstrates that citizen science can also make valuable contributions to populating broad-scale ecological databases. Strengthening partnerships between citizenscience programs and monitoring agencies can help maintain and expand spatial and temporal data coverage during the "big data" era of ecology.
The social value management ideal is an alternative to the value-free ideal of science. It recomm... more The social value management ideal is an alternative to the value-free ideal of science. It recommends that the role of non-epistemic values in scientific inquiry is analyzed, criticized, and judged as either acceptable or unacceptable by a scientific community which satisfies certain conditions. I defend the social value management ideal by responding to two objections, one suggesting that the ideal is not capable of incorporating all the diversity that is epistemically beneficial in science, and another one suggesting that the ideal is too generous to the kind of diversity which is problematic from a moral and political point of view.
As scientific teams in academia have become increasingly large, interdisciplinary, and diverse, m... more As scientific teams in academia have become increasingly large, interdisciplinary, and diverse, more attention has been paid to honorary authorship (i.e., giving authorship to those not making a significant contribution). Our study examined whether honorary authorship occurs because of the desire to include all or many team members. Interviews with project principal investigators (n = 6) and early-career project members (n = 6) from 6 interdisciplinary environmental science research teams revealed that
This chapter places the development of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) in their social context. I... more This chapter places the development of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) in their social context. It begins by highlighting the intense social and political polarization that currently exists around environmental regulations. Given this context, any gaps, assumptions, or uncertainties associated with AOPs are likely to receive intense scrutiny whenever they have regulatory implications that could generate adverse consequences for particular stakeholder groups. Therefore, the chapter argues that in the near future, AOPs are likely to be much more fruitful when they are employed in “win-win” contexts, such as in the design of safer chemicals or the assessment of alternative products and methods. Moreover, AOPs are likely to be more useful and more widely accepted if their development process is characterized by two principles: engagement and transparency. Following these principles has the potential to alleviate some of the conflict that has characterized recent chemical regulatory policy.
Early research on the impact of COVID-19 on academic scientists suggests that disruptions to rese... more Early research on the impact of COVID-19 on academic scientists suggests that disruptions to research, teaching, and daily work life are not experienced equally. However, this work has overwhelmingly focused on experiences of women and parents, with limited attention to the disproportionate impact on academic work by race, disability status, sexual identity, first-generation status, and academic career stage. Using a stratified random survey sample of early-career academics in four science disciplines (N = 3,277), we investigated socio-demographic and career stage differences in the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic along seven work outcomes: changes in four work areas (research progress, workload, concern about career advancement, support from mentors) and work disruptions due to three COVID-19 related life challenges (physical health, mental health, and caretaking). Our analyses examined patterns across career stages as well as separately for doctoral students and for postdocs/assis...
<p>Effects are relative to a scientist not expressing a preference for particular values an... more <p>Effects are relative to a scientist not expressing a preference for particular values and are net of control variables; see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0186049#pone.0186049.t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>. Green arrows are used when the scientist’s conclusion coincides with the scientist’s values; red arrows are used when the scientist’s conclusion conflicts with the scientist’s values.</p
Science plays a crucial role in a great deal of personal and societal decision making, including ... more Science plays a crucial role in a great deal of personal and societal decision making, including the development of public policy and regulations, the formulation of legal decisions, and the preservation of public and environmental health. Nevertheless, recent scholarship has shown that the incorporation of science into public decision making is fraught with a great deal of complexity. This essay introduces the second of two special sections of Public Affairs Quarterly, which together comprise six articles that explore cutting-edge questions about how science can be used responsibly to inform societal decisions. The articles in this second section explore how to develop regulatory and legal institutions that treat science with appropriate respect without granting inappropriate decision-making power to the scientific community.
The data are from two 3x2 full factorial design experiments examine how exposure to a scientist r... more The data are from two 3x2 full factorial design experiments examine how exposure to a scientist reporting values in science communication influences citizens' positive affect toward and perceived trust in the scientist.
While the science and values literature has seen recurrent concerns about wishful thinking, there... more While the science and values literature has seen recurrent concerns about wishful thinking, there have been few efforts to characterize this phenomenon. Based on a review of varieties of wishful thinking involved in climate skepticism, we argue that instances of wishful thinking can be fruitfully characterized in terms of the mechanisms that generate them and the problems associated with them. We highlight the array of mechanisms associated with wishful thinking, as well as the fact that it can be evaluated both from epistemic and ethical perspectives. We argue that it is doubtful that a single unified definition of wishful thinking can be developed. Moreover, the concept of wishful thinking can problematically focus excessive attention on individual and epistemic problems in science, to the exclusion of social and ethical problems.
As more work is being conducted in teams, mentees have increased opportunities to develop non-tra... more As more work is being conducted in teams, mentees have increased opportunities to develop non-traditional mentoring relationships. We investigate how and when three aspects of team climate (procedural justice, interpersonal justice, and inclusion) influence mentoring satisfaction among mentees with an informal secondary mentor. Using survey data from 116 researchers on environmental science teams, we test whether (a) just and inclusive team climates are related to mentoring satisfaction through positive and negative mentoring experiences and (b) race moderates the relationships between just and inclusive team climates and mentoring satisfaction. We found that negative mentoring experiences mediated the relationships between just and inclusive team climates and mentoring satisfaction. Further, just and inclusive team climates were positively related to mentoring satisfaction, especially for people of color. These results suggest that positive team climates support informal mentoring ...
In recent years, conservationists have been taking an increasingly holistic, interdisciplinary ap... more In recent years, conservationists have been taking an increasingly holistic, interdisciplinary approach to conservation science, utilizing many methodologies and techniques from the social sciences. Reflexivity is one social science technique that holds great potential to aid in the continued advancement of conservation science but is not yet commonly recognized or applied by conservationists. Here we establish a systems-based framework for conservation science and couple it with a discipline-specific definition of reflexivity to enable the integration of reflexivity into future conservation projects. We outline the four major tenets of reflexivity for conservation science, declaring that conservation science i) is informed by personal values, ii) requires true partnership, iii) must contend with its own history, and iv) demands progress. We present practical reflexive techniques that conservationists can use to adhere to these tenets and to foster research-informed conservation efforts that are more collaborative, resilient, and diverse.
The interplay between science, risk assessment and risk management has always been complex, and e... more The interplay between science, risk assessment and risk management has always been complex, and even more so in a world increasingly characterised by rapid technical innovation, new modes of communication, suspicion about authorities and experts, and demands for people to have a say in decisions that are made on their behalf. In this challenging era where scientific advice on food safety has never been in greater demand, risk managers should effectively navigate the interplay between facts and values and be able to rely on robust and fit-for-purpose risk assessments to aid them. The fact that societal resistance is often encountered when scientific advice on food safety operates at a distance from social values and fails to actively engage with citizens, has led to increasing emphasis on the need to advance forms of risk assessment that are more contextual, and socially sound and accountable. EFSA's third Scientific Conference explored how risk assessments could be constructed to most usefully meet society's needs and thus connect science with society, while remaining scientifically robust. Contributors to the conference highlighted the need to: (1) frame risk assessments by clear policy goals and decision-making criteria; (2) begin risk assessments with an explicit problem formulation to identify relevant information; (3) make use of reliable risk assessment studies; (4) be explicit about value judgements; (5) address and communicate scientific uncertainty; (6) follow trustworthy processes; (7) publish the evidence and data, and report the way in which they are used in a transparent manner; (8) ensure effective communication throughout the risk analysis process; (9) involve society, as appropriate; and (10) weigh risks and benefits on request. Implementation of these recommendations would contribute to increased credibility and trustworthiness of food safety risk assessments.
U nmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called drones, have generated a great deal of controve... more U nmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called drones, have generated a great deal of controversy, partly because of their use for military and police purposes and because of concerns that they pose threats to privacy and safety. At the same time, environmental scientists are finding drones to be a powerful research tool. Because the use of drones has the potential to generate sensitive and incidental information (especially about human activities), environmental scientists must think carefully about how to handle these findings in ethically appropriate ways that do not generate a backlash against their use. We suggest a threefold strategy for moving forward with drone research: 1) carefully identifying whether specific scientific activities with drones involve humansubjects research, 2) engaging with local communities that could be affected, and 3) developing plans for treating findings in a manner that fits the type of research and the setting in which it is done. As remote-sensing technologies like drones become more commonplace, it will be increasingly important for environmental scientists to develop systematic guidelines for handling sensitive and incidental findings. Employing DronEs UAVs are yielding many benefits for environmental research, but they also raise important social and ethical questions. Drones are enabling researchers to collect data more quickly, noninvasively, inexpensively, and
Conflict with humans is one of the primary reasons why large carnivore populations are declining ... more Conflict with humans is one of the primary reasons why large carnivore populations are declining worldwide. Rates of human-carnivore conflict (HCC) are particularly high in East Africa, where human settlements tend to surround protected areas, maximizing potential for human-carnivore interactions. Despite extensive HCC research in this region, HCC persists and carnivore populations continue to decline. Evident disconnects between HCC research and conservation action, management practices and policy formation have been cited as mechanisms associated with these trends. We conducted a literature review to determine the extent to which HCC research in East Africa is actionable within the context of management and policy formation. We evaluated 36 papers for co-production, interdisciplinary collaboration, applied or theoretical publication and stakeholder engagement. Many were published by co-authors in academia (63.8%) and collaborative efforts between academics and non-governmental organizations (25.0%), with limited representation outside these sectors. Collaboration with disciplines outside the natural sciences, specifically the social and political sciences (both 2.8%), was also uncommon although humans were the primary topic of study in 28% of papers. Moreover, while many papers were published in applied journals (86%), few explicitly stated policy and management objectives. Stakeholder engagement was mostly in the form of surveys and questionnaires rather than direct involvement in the research process. Our review indicates that HCC research currently lacks strong evidence of actionability and we provide recommendations for improving the practical salience of conservation research.
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 2021
A possible way to alleviate the public skepticism toward regulatory science is to increase transp... more A possible way to alleviate the public skepticism toward regulatory science is to increase transparency by making all data and value judgments used in regulatory decision making accessible for public interpretation, ideally early on in the process, and following the concepts of Open Science. This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges in strengthening Open Science initiatives in regulatory environmental risk assessment (ERA). In this discussion paper, we argue that the benefits associated with Open Science in regulatory ERA far outweigh its perceived risks. All stakeholders involved in regulatory ERA (e.g., governmental regulatory authorities, private sector, academia, and nongovernmental organizations), as well as professional organizations like the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, can play a key role in supporting the Open Science initiative, by promoting the use of recommended reporting criteria for reliability and relevance of data and tools used in E...
The data are from two 3x2 full factorial design experiments examine how exposure to a scientist r... more The data are from two 3x2 full factorial design experiments examine how exposure to a scientist reporting values in science communication influences citizens' positive affect toward and perceived trust in the scientist.
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Nov 4, 2019
Ecological research increasingly relies on broad-scale databases containing information collected... more Ecological research increasingly relies on broad-scale databases containing information collected by personnel from a variety of sources, including government agencies, universities, and citizen-science programs. However, the contribution of citizen-science programs to these databases is not well known. We analyzed one such database to quantify the contribution of citizen science to lake water-quality data from seven US states. Citizen-science programs not only provided over half of the observations for commonly sampled water-quality measures (water clarity, nutrients, and algal biomass) from the past 31 years, but also contributed to the majority of long-term monitoring (>15 years) for selected measures in lakes. While previous studies have demonstrated the usefulness of citizen science for research, management, policy, and public engagement, our study demonstrates that citizen science can also make valuable contributions to populating broad-scale ecological databases. Strengthening partnerships between citizenscience programs and monitoring agencies can help maintain and expand spatial and temporal data coverage during the "big data" era of ecology.
The social value management ideal is an alternative to the value-free ideal of science. It recomm... more The social value management ideal is an alternative to the value-free ideal of science. It recommends that the role of non-epistemic values in scientific inquiry is analyzed, criticized, and judged as either acceptable or unacceptable by a scientific community which satisfies certain conditions. I defend the social value management ideal by responding to two objections, one suggesting that the ideal is not capable of incorporating all the diversity that is epistemically beneficial in science, and another one suggesting that the ideal is too generous to the kind of diversity which is problematic from a moral and political point of view.
As scientific teams in academia have become increasingly large, interdisciplinary, and diverse, m... more As scientific teams in academia have become increasingly large, interdisciplinary, and diverse, more attention has been paid to honorary authorship (i.e., giving authorship to those not making a significant contribution). Our study examined whether honorary authorship occurs because of the desire to include all or many team members. Interviews with project principal investigators (n = 6) and early-career project members (n = 6) from 6 interdisciplinary environmental science research teams revealed that
This chapter places the development of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) in their social context. I... more This chapter places the development of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) in their social context. It begins by highlighting the intense social and political polarization that currently exists around environmental regulations. Given this context, any gaps, assumptions, or uncertainties associated with AOPs are likely to receive intense scrutiny whenever they have regulatory implications that could generate adverse consequences for particular stakeholder groups. Therefore, the chapter argues that in the near future, AOPs are likely to be much more fruitful when they are employed in “win-win” contexts, such as in the design of safer chemicals or the assessment of alternative products and methods. Moreover, AOPs are likely to be more useful and more widely accepted if their development process is characterized by two principles: engagement and transparency. Following these principles has the potential to alleviate some of the conflict that has characterized recent chemical regulatory policy.
Early research on the impact of COVID-19 on academic scientists suggests that disruptions to rese... more Early research on the impact of COVID-19 on academic scientists suggests that disruptions to research, teaching, and daily work life are not experienced equally. However, this work has overwhelmingly focused on experiences of women and parents, with limited attention to the disproportionate impact on academic work by race, disability status, sexual identity, first-generation status, and academic career stage. Using a stratified random survey sample of early-career academics in four science disciplines (N = 3,277), we investigated socio-demographic and career stage differences in the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic along seven work outcomes: changes in four work areas (research progress, workload, concern about career advancement, support from mentors) and work disruptions due to three COVID-19 related life challenges (physical health, mental health, and caretaking). Our analyses examined patterns across career stages as well as separately for doctoral students and for postdocs/assis...
<p>Effects are relative to a scientist not expressing a preference for particular values an... more <p>Effects are relative to a scientist not expressing a preference for particular values and are net of control variables; see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0186049#pone.0186049.t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>. Green arrows are used when the scientist’s conclusion coincides with the scientist’s values; red arrows are used when the scientist’s conclusion conflicts with the scientist’s values.</p
Science plays a crucial role in a great deal of personal and societal decision making, including ... more Science plays a crucial role in a great deal of personal and societal decision making, including the development of public policy and regulations, the formulation of legal decisions, and the preservation of public and environmental health. Nevertheless, recent scholarship has shown that the incorporation of science into public decision making is fraught with a great deal of complexity. This essay introduces the second of two special sections of Public Affairs Quarterly, which together comprise six articles that explore cutting-edge questions about how science can be used responsibly to inform societal decisions. The articles in this second section explore how to develop regulatory and legal institutions that treat science with appropriate respect without granting inappropriate decision-making power to the scientific community.
The data are from two 3x2 full factorial design experiments examine how exposure to a scientist r... more The data are from two 3x2 full factorial design experiments examine how exposure to a scientist reporting values in science communication influences citizens' positive affect toward and perceived trust in the scientist.
While the science and values literature has seen recurrent concerns about wishful thinking, there... more While the science and values literature has seen recurrent concerns about wishful thinking, there have been few efforts to characterize this phenomenon. Based on a review of varieties of wishful thinking involved in climate skepticism, we argue that instances of wishful thinking can be fruitfully characterized in terms of the mechanisms that generate them and the problems associated with them. We highlight the array of mechanisms associated with wishful thinking, as well as the fact that it can be evaluated both from epistemic and ethical perspectives. We argue that it is doubtful that a single unified definition of wishful thinking can be developed. Moreover, the concept of wishful thinking can problematically focus excessive attention on individual and epistemic problems in science, to the exclusion of social and ethical problems.
As more work is being conducted in teams, mentees have increased opportunities to develop non-tra... more As more work is being conducted in teams, mentees have increased opportunities to develop non-traditional mentoring relationships. We investigate how and when three aspects of team climate (procedural justice, interpersonal justice, and inclusion) influence mentoring satisfaction among mentees with an informal secondary mentor. Using survey data from 116 researchers on environmental science teams, we test whether (a) just and inclusive team climates are related to mentoring satisfaction through positive and negative mentoring experiences and (b) race moderates the relationships between just and inclusive team climates and mentoring satisfaction. We found that negative mentoring experiences mediated the relationships between just and inclusive team climates and mentoring satisfaction. Further, just and inclusive team climates were positively related to mentoring satisfaction, especially for people of color. These results suggest that positive team climates support informal mentoring ...
In recent years, conservationists have been taking an increasingly holistic, interdisciplinary ap... more In recent years, conservationists have been taking an increasingly holistic, interdisciplinary approach to conservation science, utilizing many methodologies and techniques from the social sciences. Reflexivity is one social science technique that holds great potential to aid in the continued advancement of conservation science but is not yet commonly recognized or applied by conservationists. Here we establish a systems-based framework for conservation science and couple it with a discipline-specific definition of reflexivity to enable the integration of reflexivity into future conservation projects. We outline the four major tenets of reflexivity for conservation science, declaring that conservation science i) is informed by personal values, ii) requires true partnership, iii) must contend with its own history, and iv) demands progress. We present practical reflexive techniques that conservationists can use to adhere to these tenets and to foster research-informed conservation efforts that are more collaborative, resilient, and diverse.
The interplay between science, risk assessment and risk management has always been complex, and e... more The interplay between science, risk assessment and risk management has always been complex, and even more so in a world increasingly characterised by rapid technical innovation, new modes of communication, suspicion about authorities and experts, and demands for people to have a say in decisions that are made on their behalf. In this challenging era where scientific advice on food safety has never been in greater demand, risk managers should effectively navigate the interplay between facts and values and be able to rely on robust and fit-for-purpose risk assessments to aid them. The fact that societal resistance is often encountered when scientific advice on food safety operates at a distance from social values and fails to actively engage with citizens, has led to increasing emphasis on the need to advance forms of risk assessment that are more contextual, and socially sound and accountable. EFSA's third Scientific Conference explored how risk assessments could be constructed to most usefully meet society's needs and thus connect science with society, while remaining scientifically robust. Contributors to the conference highlighted the need to: (1) frame risk assessments by clear policy goals and decision-making criteria; (2) begin risk assessments with an explicit problem formulation to identify relevant information; (3) make use of reliable risk assessment studies; (4) be explicit about value judgements; (5) address and communicate scientific uncertainty; (6) follow trustworthy processes; (7) publish the evidence and data, and report the way in which they are used in a transparent manner; (8) ensure effective communication throughout the risk analysis process; (9) involve society, as appropriate; and (10) weigh risks and benefits on request. Implementation of these recommendations would contribute to increased credibility and trustworthiness of food safety risk assessments.
U nmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called drones, have generated a great deal of controve... more U nmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called drones, have generated a great deal of controversy, partly because of their use for military and police purposes and because of concerns that they pose threats to privacy and safety. At the same time, environmental scientists are finding drones to be a powerful research tool. Because the use of drones has the potential to generate sensitive and incidental information (especially about human activities), environmental scientists must think carefully about how to handle these findings in ethically appropriate ways that do not generate a backlash against their use. We suggest a threefold strategy for moving forward with drone research: 1) carefully identifying whether specific scientific activities with drones involve humansubjects research, 2) engaging with local communities that could be affected, and 3) developing plans for treating findings in a manner that fits the type of research and the setting in which it is done. As remote-sensing technologies like drones become more commonplace, it will be increasingly important for environmental scientists to develop systematic guidelines for handling sensitive and incidental findings. Employing DronEs UAVs are yielding many benefits for environmental research, but they also raise important social and ethical questions. Drones are enabling researchers to collect data more quickly, noninvasively, inexpensively, and
Conflict with humans is one of the primary reasons why large carnivore populations are declining ... more Conflict with humans is one of the primary reasons why large carnivore populations are declining worldwide. Rates of human-carnivore conflict (HCC) are particularly high in East Africa, where human settlements tend to surround protected areas, maximizing potential for human-carnivore interactions. Despite extensive HCC research in this region, HCC persists and carnivore populations continue to decline. Evident disconnects between HCC research and conservation action, management practices and policy formation have been cited as mechanisms associated with these trends. We conducted a literature review to determine the extent to which HCC research in East Africa is actionable within the context of management and policy formation. We evaluated 36 papers for co-production, interdisciplinary collaboration, applied or theoretical publication and stakeholder engagement. Many were published by co-authors in academia (63.8%) and collaborative efforts between academics and non-governmental organizations (25.0%), with limited representation outside these sectors. Collaboration with disciplines outside the natural sciences, specifically the social and political sciences (both 2.8%), was also uncommon although humans were the primary topic of study in 28% of papers. Moreover, while many papers were published in applied journals (86%), few explicitly stated policy and management objectives. Stakeholder engagement was mostly in the form of surveys and questionnaires rather than direct involvement in the research process. Our review indicates that HCC research currently lacks strong evidence of actionability and we provide recommendations for improving the practical salience of conservation research.
Nos últimos anos, filósofos da ciência têm estudado cada vez mais como a ciência opera em seu con... more Nos últimos anos, filósofos da ciência têm estudado cada vez mais como a ciência opera em seu contexto social. Entre os novos tópicos, estão os impactos dos interesses corporativos na pesquisa e a comunicação responsável dos cientistas com o público e com os formuladores de políticas. Esses filósofos investigam também a ética na pesquisa e a influência dos valores éticos e sociais na pesquisa científica, assim como buscam combater injustiças como sexismo, racismo e colonialismo. Refletindo sobre suas próprias práticas acadêmicas, ressaltam a importância de estudos que atendam às necessidades da ciência e do público. Este livro propõe uma filosofia da ciência que não somente promova a diversidade e a inclusão, mas também amplie a relevância da ciência aberta. A obra visa estimular o engajamento dos pesquisadores com os múltiplos públicos e comunidades para tornar o processo científico mais socialmente responsável.
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