The ability to forecast and predict future events with a degree of accuracy is central to many professional occupations. Utilising a prediction competition between human and AI forecasters, Philipp Schoenegger and Peter S. Park, assess their relative a…
Category: Experts and Expertise
Social simulations can teach the tacit dimensions of effective policy advice
Drawing on his ethnographic study of government science advisers, Noam Obermeister argues that much of their work involves learning by doing and that by creating realistic social simulations this expertise can be developed in the classroom. Transformat…
Can you ever be an expert in research impact?
Demonstrating a specialism for research impact is an increasingly sought after attribute for academics, research adjacent staff and growing numbers of impact professionals. Drawing on work carried out to design a course in foundational knowledge for re…
Wizards, pretenders, or unaccountable curators? How consultants shape policy in underfunded international agencies
Consultancies play an important role in developing policies and strategies for international agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO). Drawing on a recent study, Tine Hanrieder and Julian Eckl argue that consultants’ formidable ability to …
Government by PowerPoint – Analysing the politics of charts and infographics during COVID-19
During the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, the public heard government ministers ask for the ‘next slide please’ on a near-daily basis. Charts and infographics featured on national television like never before. But as William Allen, Justyna Bandola…
Is Development an Art or a Science?
Reflecting on nearly twenty years of transdisciplinary practice and research and the recent publication of their new book, New Mediums, Better Messages? How Innovations in Translation, Engagement, and Advocacy are Changing International Development, Da…