Opinion: Giving scientific advice to government during a crisis

Covid-19 has drawn attention to the role that science and expert advice plays in policymaking during an emergency, writes Professor Brian Collins (UCL Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering) in an article co-authored with Kieron Flanagan from the University of Manchester. This has exposed the Government's Chief Scientific Advisor and Chief Medical Officer, and the way their advice feeds into government policy, to unprecedented levels of attention. At the same time, with the lines between policy and science being blurred, questions are being asked about what evidence informs policy and how. UCL Public Policy has brought us two experts on public policy, and presents their views on how evidence informs policy, and the challenges of doing so effectively and transparently, during a crisis. How it works. Dr. Kieron Flanagan - Senior Lecturer in Science and Technology Policy - Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, University of Manchester How scientific expertise is sought, offered to, taken up and used by policymakers has been the focus of much research in the broad area of science policy and governance. Much of this work focuses on high-profile controversies such as GM food, or policy disasters such as BSE, rather than on the day-to-day operation of scientific advice for policy.