Risk and uncertainty in the context of scientific expertise

Science is increasingly being called upon to explain, justify and support decisions made in the political arenas. It is necessary to reflect on the work of scientific expertise and that is what will be addressed by Portuguese sociologist Helena Mateus Jerónimo, from the Technical University of Lisbon (UTL). She will give the conference "The Scientific Expertise: Its Specifics in Knowledge and in Action" on March 20 at 9.30 am in IEA-USP’s Events Room.

At the meeting, Jerónimo will discuss the interface between the world of knowledge and the world of decision with focus on the concepts of risk and uncertainty. To do so, she will address the tensions between science and policy brought out by scientific expertise. There will be three main topics:

• to show how scientific expertise amplifies the complexity of the relations between science, technological system, and political and social values
• to illustrate from case studies the multiplicity of formats in scientific expertise
• to analyze the tendency of experts to underestimate the uncertainties inherent in many of the phenomena they are called on to evaluate and to confine themselves in a probabilistic language of risk.

The conferencist holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, is a professor of the School of Economics and Management (ISEG) at the Technical University of Lisbon (UTL) and a researcher at UTL’s Centre for Research in Economic and Organizational Sociology (SOCIUS), where she develops studies in Scientific, Technological and Environmental Sociology.

SEMINAR

The conference will be the second in a series of four meetings of the 25th International Seminar on Philosophy, History, and Sociology of Science and Technology (see schedule below), all featuring Jerónimo as exhibitor.

Organized by IEA-USP’s Philosophy, History, and Sociology of Science and Technology Research Group, the seminar is coordinated by philosopher Pablo Mariconda, professor at USP’s Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) and coordinator of the group.

The event will be broadcast live on the web.