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VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
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SUMMARY:Doing science differently ? : the case of flood risk modelling
DTSTART:20090302T161500
DTSTAMP:20260922T015632Z
UID:325b644fbf4882cd19abe4afdd8364d43db9ba7d22b568a7008fec1f
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Par Prof. Stuart Lane\, Durham University\n  	Models represent
  a peculiar form of scientific knowledge because their primary raison d'et
 re rests in the difficulties of acquiring certain sorts of understandings 
 through conventional scientific practice (e.g. measurement). Indeed\, mode
 ls are commonly seen as sets of mathematically-encoded theoretical stateme
 nts which\, when combined with additional auxiliary information\, allow st
 atements to be made about things that have not been observed (e.g. future 
 flood risk). The tension arises between models as research tools\, to be d
 isproved or shown as wrong\, and models in practice\, aa policy tools nece
 ssary to help get decisions right. Flood risk modelling represents a parti
 cular severe example of this tension because it is an increasingly public 
 practice\, one which has opened up to scrutiny the predictions of flood ri
 sk models by a community for whom flood risk modelling makes a material di
 fference: those who live with flood risk\; ordinary people. In this presen
 tation\, I will show how conventional models for the practice of science f
 ail in such situations where the science becomes public and\, in some case
 s\, controversial. Those who live with flood risk can\, in many cases\, po
 sess expert knowledge of the sort that is normally made inadmissible to th
 e routine practice of scientific enquiry. Rather than being seen as an int
 egral part of scientific practice\, they are excluded from this practice\,
  only to be brought back in\, to be educated and persuaded as to the valid
 ity of the work that has been done. I will show how this approach is funda
 mentally flawed\, advocating the need to move towards a much more radical 
 form of scientific practice in which trust in flood risk models can only b
 e gained through the active involvement in the research process of thise w
 ho have to live with flood risk.
LOCATION:GR B 30
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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