Past CSPO Events
- April 22, 2020CSPO DC
Webinar: Where’s Congress? Don’t Just Blame Trump for the Coronavirus Catastrophe
The United States has the world’s highest rating on the Global Health Security Index. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may well have the planet’s highest density of expertise in infectious disease. The nation had forewarning from its health experts and intelligence services that a pandemic was gestating in China and then southern Europe. So how is it possible that the United States mounted such an inept response to the coronavirus pandemic?
Join M. Anthony Mills (R Street Institute) and Robert Cook-Deegan (Arizona State University) for an in-depth conversation on fixing the broken links between expertise and governance, and on how improving the legislative branch’s capacity for understanding science and technology is necessary to ensure that the country is better prepared for the next public health crisis. Their new essay on this subject can be found at Issues in Science and Technology.
Robert M Cook-Deegan, Anthony Mills
- March 05, 2020CSPO DC - New Tools for Science Policy
Everything You Know about Shark Conservation Is Wrong
Despite their fearsome reputation, sharks have more to fear from humans than we do from them. Sharks are some of the most threatened animals in the world, with rapid and alarming population declines driven by unsustainable overfishing. As public concern for their conservation grows, the debate over the best policy solutions to protect sharks has become more heated. Further complicating the issue: much of the most widely shared information about sharks and their conservation is flat-out wrong.
Join ASU postdoctoral researcher and marine conservation biologist David Shiffman for a morning of learning ocean conservation policy and myth-busting some of the wrong information you’ve learned about how to protect sharks.
David Shiffman
- February 11, 2020CSPO DC
Lessons from the Yellow Vests, Grand Debates, and Citizen Assembly on Climate in France
Can citizen assemblies help overcome political gridlock and offer a route to effective national climate policies?
Other nations, including Scotland and England, are following France’s lead in convening their own citizen assemblies on climate. Will the United States be next? If so, what lessons might policymakers and organizers derive from Macron’s misadventure with climate politics and subsequent change of approach? Can citizen assemblies help to overcome political gridlock in order to implement effective climate policies?
Join Yves Mathieu of Missions Publiques, co-organizer of both the Grand Debates and the Citizen Assembly on Climate, in a CSPO Conversation moderated by Daniel Sarewitz.
Yves Mathieu, Daniel Sarewitz
- January 22, 2020CSPO DC
What will it take to transition to a sustainable future?
CSPO Open Workshop
Solutions to the critical and complex challenges of sustainability (such as deep decarbonization, food sufficiency, and equitable water and energy access) demand collaborations between universities, businesses, government, and civil society. In this CSPO open workshop, five academic leaders from ASU and The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Germany will propose questions, issues, and strategies for collaborative efforts to forge transitions to sustainability. Intensive discussion will follow, where workshop attendees are invited to bring the perspectives of their own institutions and experiences to engage and critique these ideas. The outcome of our deliberation will provide valuable input to the Global Sustainability Strategy Forum for further development of strategies for fostering transformation to a just and equitable sustainable society.
Sander van der Leeuw, Ilan Chabay, Peter Schlosser, Ortwin Renn, Solène Droy
- December 13, 2019CSPO DC - New Tools for Science Policy
A New Global Model for Coastal Conservation
Innovative coastal conservation efforts can help protect sea turtles, sharks, and artisanal fisheries
Small-scale or artisanal fisheries are important for sustaining coastal ecosystems and livelihoods, but they are notoriously challenging to manage due to their decentralized, dynamic, and vulnerable nature.
In this New Tools breakfast seminar, Jesse Senko will share how his team is developing a twenty-first century global model for coastal conservation by innovating with fishers and conservation groups to promote environmentally and socially responsible fisheries.
Jesse Senko
- November 22, 2019CSPO DC
The Governance of Solar Geoengineering
Climate change is among the world’s most important problems, and solutions based on greenhouse gas emission cuts or adapting to a new climate remain elusive. One set of proposals receiving increasing attention among scientists and policymakers is “solar geoengineering” (also known as solar radiation modification), which would reflect a small portion of incoming sunlight to reduce climate change. Evidence indicates that this could be effective, inexpensive, and technologically feasible, but it also poses environmental risks and social challenges. Governance will thus be crucial.
In this CSPO Conversation, Jesse Reynolds will draw on his just-released book, The Governance of Solar Geoengineering: Managing Climate Change in the Anthropocene (Cambridge University Press), to show how solar geoengineering is, could, and should be governed. He will focus on the most common concern: solar geoengineering could undermine already insufficient efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Can policies be crafted in which solar geoengineering could actually increase emissions cuts?
Jesse Reynolds
- November 20, 2019CSPO DC
Putting Social Science to Work for Society
Fall 2019 Issues in Science and Technology Launch Event
Social science research—spanning disciplines as diverse as economics, anthropology, political science, and psychology—illuminates the inner workings of human behavior and society. How can this research be effectively applied to discover solutions to some of society’s most complex and formidable problems? And what role can universities play in transforming the social sciences into drivers of societal improvement?
These questions are at the heart of “Retrofitting Social Science for the Practical & Moral,” Kenneth Prewitt’s feature article in the latest edition of Issues in Science and Technology. Prewitt, a professor at Columbia University and former director of the US Census Bureau, will discuss his article at the launch event for the Fall 2019 Issues on November 20 in Washington, DC. He’ll be joined by Mary Ellen O’Connell (National Academies), Jed Herrmann (Results for America), and Toby Smith (Association for American Universities) in a wide-ranging exploration of how this research can better serve society.
Kenneth Prewitt, Mary Ellen O’Connell, Jed Herrmann, Tobin Smith
- November 06, 2019CSPO DC
Cooling a Warming Planet?
Results from Public Forums on Climate Intervention Research
The scientific uncertainties and contested values surrounding geoengineering research, particularly for a class of methods called solar radiation management (SRM), make it a prime issue for which public deliberation can provide valuable input. With SRM research advancing to the field-research phase, the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes (CSPO), with funding support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, designed a set of public deliberations to explore questions of trust, transparency, consent, safety, collaboration, and other issues of importance related to SRM research.
CSPO convened groups of diverse citizens in two day-long forums to discuss SRM research in September 2018. The research team is now hosting a results launch event to share the deliberation results with SRM experts and stakeholders. Following a presentation of the high-level findings, a panel of experts will offer their reactions to the results report. All event participants will then have the opportunity to receive a copy of the final results report and ask additional questions.
Virginia Chanley, Jane A. Flegal, Frank Keutsch, Shuchi Talati