Oxford Policy Engagement Network (OPEN) Conversations offer researchers and policymakers the opportunity to share insights into how each other thinks about challenges of common interest.

How does the UK science advice system work? How do policymakers think about expertise and experts? What challenges does this present to researchers and policymakers - and how can we respond to them?

To find out, join us for this OPEN Conversation? Will Pryor, Head of Policy Engagement, will be joined by:

Dr Giulia Cuccato, Head of Science Systems and Academic Engagement at the Government Office for Science
Dr Maru Mormina, Senior Researcher at the Ethox Centre in the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities

We'll be starting promptly at 4 p.m., and continuing the conversation over refreshments from 5 p.m.

About our speakers

Dr Giulia Cuccato trained in environmental science and genetics with a PhD in Risk Assessment of Genetically Modified Crops at Reading University. She explored further her interest in genetics with two postdocs: one in synthetic biology and one in systems biology. Giulia turned her interest to policy for science after a stint as an editor at Nature, and has been a civil servant for 10 years. In her current role she supports the Government Chief Scientific Advisor in ensuring the government has access to the best scientific advice and information to inform policies and decisions. Recently she has focussed on understanding science systems in government and on how to improve the way the Government Office for Science interacts with its academic base.

Dr Maru Mormina's work focuses on the use and non-use of expert knowledge for wicked policy problems. This work aims to understand how both expert knowledge and ignorance are construed and used to determine who is regarded as an expert - and who is not - what methods, approaches and paradigms are mainstreamed in policy - and which remain in the fringes. This can help us evaluate the epistemic quality of policy processes by better understanding how different kinds of knowledge flow (or fail to flow) through which webs of decision makers, experts and advisors. From time to time, Maru also provides expert ethics advice and has worked with a variety of private and public bodies, including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Health Research Board of Ireland and policy think tanks.

Due to capacity constraints, this event is only open to doctoral students, researchers and members of professional services staff at the University of Oxford and member universities of the Universities Policy Engagement Network, and UK civil servants.

We are expecting a high level of demand for this event. We therefore ask that you book a ticket only if you are sure that you will be able to attend. If for any reason you are subsequently unable to attend, please refund your ticket immediately or email researchandpublicpolicy@admin.ox.ac.uk

What if I don't have a ticket?

If you were not able to book a ticket to join in person, please join our waitlist or join the session online.

If you have any questions regarding ticketing, please contact researchandpublicpolicy@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Data privacy

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The Policy Engagement Team collects and uses data in accordance with the University’s Staff Privacy Policy and Student Privacy Policy, in pursuit of the aims set out in the OPEN Strategy 2021-24. The team may share your data with with partners when managing events or when briefing speakers at events where OPEN members are taking part.

Expertise for public policy: an OPEN Conversation