CSPO News In the Press

  • Reinvigorating the Scientific Enterprise

    Envisioning the Next 75 Years of Science Policy

    How can we structure science policy and scientific research to meet human needs in a world of accelerating changes? Global leaders, early career researchers, policymakers, businesspeople and more consider the future of the scientific enterprise and how it could be changed to create a healthier, more equitable, and secure society in an essay collection in Issues in Science & Technology.

  • Infrastructure in the Anthropocene

    Humans are rapidly approaching a period of destabilization that requires new thinking and competencies for how we approach infrastructure into the future.

    It’s time to rethink the relationship with the core systems that serve as the backbone for virtually every activity and service that society demands. New accelerating and interactive forces are redefining what infrastructure can and should do, and how it should function on a planet dominated by human systems. Read the first chapter of Mikhail Chester and Braden Allenby’s indispensable new book, The Rightful Place of Science: Infrastructure in the Anthropocene.

  • Science policy: For the public, by the public

    An ASU team led by CSPO Associate Director Mahmud Farooque calls on the Biden administration to create a special Participatory Technology Assessment unit to support policy decisionmaking.

    The team, in collaboration with the Day One Project, suggests that the outcomes of science and technology decisionmaking will improve through dialogue with informed, nonexpert citizens who are generally underrepresented in science and technology policymaking.

  • Not That Smart

    AI should serve, not compete with, human intelligence

    AI should advance human agency, rather than replace it. How can we assure that AI design and policy is human-centered?

  • Out of Chaos Comes Creativity and Innovation

    What Nurses Know About Innovating “In the Here and Now”

    The pandemic has shattered norms of medical knowledge production, revealing the key role of nurses—and trust—in innovation.

  • Illustration by Alice Mollon

    Who should have a say on editing DNA?

    ASU Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes joins global efforts to bring public values for anticipatory governance of gene editing technologies

    CSPO is working on a series of three closely connected projects to assist with global citizen deliberations on gene editing. These efforts reinforce a call from 25 leading researchers from around the world for the creation of national and global “citizens’ assemblies,” made up of lay-people, tasked with considering the societal implications of this emerging science.

  • Public Value Science

    In an increasingly unequal society, America’s science policies are a regressive force. They need to be refocused on creating benefits for all people.

    In an economic environment characterized by growth but also by extreme inequality, science and technology not only reinforce inequality but also, in some instances, help widen the gap. Science and technology can be a regressive factor in the economy.

  • Can Voting by Mail Ensure a Safe and Secure Election?

    The challenges and misconceptions of vote-by-mail

    The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to disrupt the most important tenet of democracy: political representation. In response, many states are implementing or considering systems to allow citizens to vote by mail. What are the challenges to scaling up vote-by-mail so quickly?