Legislative science advice mechanisms: challenges and opportunities

Just recently, and after a meeting with the association Ciencia en el Parlamento, the President of the Spanish Congress announced that Spain will soon have its own parliamentary office of science and technology, following a long and ongoing dialogue with the Spanish Board of Congress and all political parties. In this context, Ciencia en el Parlamento, published a report “Oportunidades para el asesoramiento científico en España” [Opportunities for the Parliamentary science advice in Spain] showing the variety of parliamentary science advice mechanisms; this report will also be presented during this event.

Many European countries already have parliamentary science advice mechanisms: offering scientific evidence and enabling better communication between science, society and parliamentarians. But how do these parliamentary science advice mechanisms work in general and how do parliamentary offices for science and technology operate in particular? How do they choose the topics they work on to provide science advice? What role can they play in managing unexpected situations and crises, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic?

Join the discussion with representatives of four European from legislative parliamentary science advice mechanisms frombodies from the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands and Portugal.

Speakers:

Dr. Andreu Climent, President of Ciencia en en Parlamento Association, Spain

Dr. Sarah Foxen, Knowledge Exchange Lead at POST, UK Parliament, United Kingdom

Suzanne Nollen, Team Leader Research Team, Analysis and Research Department, House of Representatives of the States-General, The Netherlands

Dr. Jaakko Kuosmanen, Academy Secretary, Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and Head Coordinator of Sofi - Science Advice Initiative of Finland.

Prof. Dr. António B. Moniz, Director of the Observatory for Technology Assessment (OAT), Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences (CICS.NOVA), Portugal

Moderated by Dr Leonor Sierra, member of the Research and International Relationships working group of Ciencia en el Parlamento.