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Living happily in the valley of death
Citation
Harris, P and Meyer, R and Leith, PB, Living happily in the valley of death, UTAS News, UTAS, Hobart, Tasmania (2013) [Internal Newsletter]
Abstract
Living happily in the valley of death Powerful metaphors are used to describe the challenges of linking science with application and use in the world. We often hear about the gap that needs to be bridged, the chasm between two cultures, the insurmountable barriers or, most evocative of all, the valley of death. The common theme is a separation that can only be crossed at great risk to the career of the intrepid explorer. These metaphors are all negative, which is unhelpful for those who spend their time in the space between science and decision-making. More importantly, much of the time the metaphors are simply empirically wrong. Certainly it is not always easy to try to improve decision-making through the more effective linking of science and policy. It involves working across cultural and professional boundaries, trying to reconcile very different timelines and expectations. But however you describe the distance between the two activities, the intervening landscape is not littered with bleached bones. It is home to a variety of diligent, smart, hard-working and creative people. It is becoming a place more akin to Plato’s agora than a chasm of desiccation and despair -- a place where our most closely held ideas about knowledge and democracy are being continually tested, reworked, and improved.
Item Details
Item Type: | Internal Newsletter |
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Research Division: | Human Society |
Research Group: | Sociology |
Research Field: | Sociology and social studies of science and technology |
Objective Division: | Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards |
Objective Group: | Environmental policy, legislation and standards |
Objective Field: | Environmental policy, legislation and standards not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Leith, PB (Dr Peat Leith) |
ID Code: | 83509 |
Year Published: | 2013 |
Deposited By: | Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture |
Deposited On: | 2013-03-15 |
Last Modified: | 2014-04-16 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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