Never has there been a rallying point for science advice at a global scale as we are now experiencing with the COVID-19 pandemic. With it come the hallmarks of advising in a time of crisis: the evidence is uncertain, the science is fast-moving, the stakes are high and, in some public discussions at least, values are in dispute.
In response, this Wednesday INGSA launched a global Covid-19 policy-making tracker. With other COVID-19 policy-trackers appearing internationally over the past week, INGSA Executive Officer, Lara Cowen explains the important niche that the INGSA’s tracker fills, “Our goal is to mobilize the INGSA network to help keep track of how, and not necessarily what, policy interventions are being made by various national and sub-national (state, province, etc.) governments across the world”.
The aim of the INGSA policy-making tracker is to understand the decision making process in each government’s response to COVID-19. In particular, we want to focus on whether justifications are given for a policy announcement, what person or group is providing the advice or evidence, and whether there is any evidence cited in the policy announcement.
Lara Cowen, INGSA Executive Officer
“It is important to distinguish the INGSA project as a policy-making tracker – our primary interest is not to compare policy choices but to understand and compare what was behind those choices”, says Cowen.
The policy tracker will also be an invaluable tool to feed into a larger deep dive comparative study that INGSA is developing. The focus of the comparative study is to understand the kinds of evidence, its uptake and mechanisms used to develop and implement these interventions by governments, and how these approaches varied by jurisdiction.
“The INGSA COVID-19 policy-making tracker is key to understanding the various ways in which evidence is mobilized at different stages of the pandemic, by whom and to what end,” says INGSA Chair, Peter Gluckman.
“The policy-making tracker will help us understand the broader conceptual frameworks of evidence-to-policy pathways that could help guide best response to other transnational crises in the future”.
Peter Gluckman, INGSA Chair and President-elect of the ISC.
INGSA is currently recruiting volunteer rapporteurs from each national jurisdiction. In you are interesting in finding out more, please contact covid@ingsa.org
To visit the policy-making tracker, click here.
International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA)
International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA): As a legacy of the first global conference in 2014 on science advice to governments co-organised by the ISC’s predecessor organization, the International Council for Science (ICSU) in Auckland, New Zealand, the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) was formed.
Image by Isaac Quesada on Unsplash
Related Items
Pacific Islands Academy of Sciences and Humanities: A Pivotal Step Towards a Resilient Future
01.03.2024
President of the International Science Council, Sir Peter Gluckman, addresses EU Ministers
15.02.2024
Achieving sustainable development requires the full inclusion of women and girls in science
12.02.2024
"What's holding us back?": how economists and social scientists might hold the key to climate action
12.12.2023
For science-based decision-making on the climate emergency: 10 new insights in climate science
05.12.2023
Podcast with Qiufan Chen: Science Fiction and the Future of Science: Values and Senses in Artificial Intelligence
04.12.2023
Podcast with Fernanda Trías: Science Fiction and the Future of Science: Lessons from an Eco-Dystopia
27.11.2023
Podcast with Vandana Singh: Science Fiction and the Future of Science: Data, Narrative, and Transdisciplinarity
20.11.2023
The costs of shifting scenarios: Why the IPCC should maintain consistent vocabulary in climate assessments
17.11.2023
New ISC policy brief: A call for a formal scientific voice in the global fight against plastic pollution
16.11.2023
FAO and the International Science Council join forces to strengthen science-policy interfaces for agrifood systems
14.11.2023
Podcast with Karen Lord: Science Fiction and the Future of Science: Long-Term Thinking in Policy-making
13.11.2023
Reframing Trust in Science for Multilateral Policy: Insights from the Science Journalists Forum
09.11.2023
Policy Brief: Creating a Strong Interface between Science, Policy and Society to Tackle Global Plastic Pollution
09.11.2023
One Planet Polar Summit, scientists striving to bridge the science-policy gap for urgent action: "every tenth of a degree Celsius matters"
09.11.2023
A framework for evaluating rapidly developing digital and related technologies: AI, large language models and beyond
23.10.2023
"The making of the Golden Record of our century": daring to pursue mission-oriented science
19.09.2023
To achieve sustainable development, the world needs to mobilize around a big science approach once more
13.09.2023
Global science needs a new approach to tackle climate change and complex sustainability question
27.07.2023
The ISC addresses the UN High Level Political Forum and meets with the UN Secretary General
24.07.2023
A Model for Implementing Mission Science for Sustainability: proposed by the Technical Advisory Group to the Global Commission on Science Missions for Sustainability
11.07.2023
Rising to the challenge of the High-Level Meeting on the Sendai Framework: Insights from the ISC's latest disaster risk reduction report
18.05.2023
Nurturing a Sustainable Future: Collaboration, Empowerment, Trust, and Resilience in Science at the ISC Mid-term Members Meeting
16.05.2023
ISC's nomination track ensures transdisciplinary and global representation in UNEP's Scientific Advisory Group for GEO-7 Assessment
14.04.2023
UN 2023 Water Conference carries new engagements towards realizing SDG6 and future avenues for a decade of action
23.03.2023
IPCC report: the world must cut emissions and urgently adapt to the new climate realities
21.03.2023
Second conference on the war in Ukraine: exploring the impact on the science sector and supporting initiatives
14.03.2023
ISC-BBC StoryWorks partnership ends on a high note, delivering some of the highest engagement for the BBC
13.03.2023
World is set to miss UN targets for preventing deadly and costly disasters by 2030, warns International Science Council
28.02.2023
Science in Times of Crisis Episode 3 - The Fallout of Conflict: The Arctic and Outer Space
15.12.2022
Position paper of the Scientific and Technological Community Major Group for the 2022 High-level Political Forum
17.06.2022
International Science Council appoints 66 Foundation Fellows who have made exceptional contributions to the role of science as a global public good
09.06.2022
An early career perspective on the science-policy interface in the decade of climate action following COP26
28.12.2021
Four considerations for accelerating progress on climate change at the science-policy interface
05.11.2021
Indigenous inclusion in the science-policy sphere requires more than symbolic gestures: Interview with Meg Parsons
10.08.2021
2021 Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs: amplifying STI for a sustainable and resilient COVID-19 recovery
01.05.2021
COVID-19 has sparked new relationships between academia and policymakers – we must maintain them
20.04.2021
World Engineering Day - science and engineering are key partners in building a sustainable future
04.03.2021
Official Statement by the Scientific and Technological Community (STC) Major Group Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2019, Geneva, Switzerland
17.05.2019
Science and Policy Forum underscores need for collaboration across science, policy makers and society for success in disaster risk reduction
15.05.2019
ISC launches policy briefs ahead of the UN Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2019)
10.05.2019
Public launch event of the Council explores values of science and links between science, politics and society
05.07.2018
New report from scientific experts provides a unique guide to translate Sustainable Development Goals into reality
12.05.2017
International experts submit report on Future of the Seas and Oceans to G7 Science and Technology Ministers meeting in Japan
21.05.2016
Former ICSU President Jane Lubchenco awarded Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement for Work in Changing Policy
25.03.2015
More than 1,000 delegates gather in Geneva for talks on global disaster risk reduction agreement
20.11.2014
UN supports call for an international science advisory mechanism on disaster risk reduction
26.07.2014