The ethics of communicating scientific uncertainty: Understanding how scientists, environmental lawyers, and reporters treat uncertainty

传达科学不确定性的道德规范：了解科学家、环境律师和记者如何对待不确定性

• 批准号: 1415608
• 负责人: Scott Schang
• 金额: $ 8.97万
• 依托单位: Environmental Law Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-02-01 至 2015-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1415608&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ethics; communicating; scientific; uncertainty; Understanding

This award to the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) supports a 1.5-day multi-disciplinary workshop in Washington, D.C. at which scientists, lawyers, and media professionals will discuss how they address and communicate scientific uncertainty on environmental issues, subject to the ethical standards of their respective fields. In particular, the treatment of subjects such as climatology, weather forecasting, hydraulic fracturing, and synthetic biology inevitably requires that uncertainty be explained and addressed. The goal of this workshop is twofold: (1) to facilitate more effective cross-discipline communications by having participants better understand the approaches their peers take to scientific uncertainty and the ethical reasons underlying these approaches; and (2) to promote more transparent and constructive discussion of major environmental issues by ensuring that people understand the professional constraints on the scientific, legal, and media professionals charged with communicating the nature and importance of scientific uncertainty.Important questions of public policy often involve varying degrees of uncertainty in the science - for example, over what particular data or trends mean, or over the significance of a lack of data. Public decisions are heavily informed by the data, information, and analysis developed and communicated by scientists, lawyers, and members of the media. Each of these professions,however,thinks about scientific uncertainty differently with differences shaped, in large part, by internal ethical standards.This workshop, and the resulting proceedings which ELI will publish, could contribute to a fuller, fairer, and more transparent discourse on controversial public policy issues where decisions must be made in the face of scientific uncertainty. Additionally, the transfer of information at the workshop among a diverse range of scientific, legal, and media participants will allow them to draw on a new understanding when they are working with their peers in other professions. Ultimately, the long-term goal is better decision-making on matters of public policy significance that are affected by scientific uncertainty.

该奖项授予环境法研究所 (ELI)，支持在华盛顿特区举办为期 1.5 天的多学科研讨会，科学家、律师和媒体专业人士将在会上讨论如何在遵守各自领域的道德标准的情况下解决和传达环境问题的科学不确定性。 特别是，处理气候学、天气预报、水力压裂和合成生物学等学科不可避免地需要解释和解决不确定性。本次研讨会的目标有两个：（1）通过让参与者更好地理解同行对科学不确定性所采取的方法以及这些方法背后的伦理原因，促进更有效的跨学科交流； (2) 通过确保人们了解负责传达科学不确定性的性质和重要性的科学、法律和媒体专业人员的专业限制，促进对重大环境问题进行更加透明和建设性的讨论。公共政策的重要问题通常涉及科学中不同程度的不确定性——例如，特定数据或趋势的含义，或缺乏数据的重要性。公共决策在很大程度上取决于科学家、律师和媒体成员开发和交流的数据、信息和分析。然而，这些专业对科学不确定性的看法各不相同，其差异在很大程度上是由内部道德标准造成的。本次研讨会以及 ELI 将出版的会议记录，可以有助于就有争议的公共政策问题进行更全面、更公平和更透明的讨论，这些问题必须在面对科学不确定性的情况下做出决策。此外，研讨会上不同领域的科学、法律和媒体参与者之间的信息传递将使他们在与其他专业的同行合作时获得新的理解。最终，长期目标是对受科学不确定性影响的具有公共政策意义的问题做出更好的决策。