How did UK policymaking in the COVID-19 response use science? Evidence from scientific advisers

Background: Responses to COVID-19 have invested heavily in science. How this science was used is therefore important. Our work extends existing knowledge on the use of science in the pandemic by capturing scientific advisers’ experiences in real time.Aims and objectives: Our aim was to present generalisable messages on key qualifications or difficulties involved in speaking of ‘following the science’.Methods: Ninety-three interviews with UK scientific advisors and government officials captured their activities and perceptions during the pandemic in real time. We also examined Parliamentary Select Committee transcripts and government documents. This material was analysed for thematic content.Findings and discussion: (1) Many scientists sought guidance from policymakers about their goals, yet the COVID-19 response demonstrated the absence of a clear steer, and a tendency to change course quickly; (2) many scientists did not want to offer policy advice, but rather to provide evidence; and (3) a range of knowledge informed the UK’s pandemic response: we examine which kinds were privileged, and demonstrate the absence of clarity on how government synthesised the different forms of evidence being used.Conclusions: Understanding the reasons for a lack of clarity about policy goals would help us better understand the use of science in policy. Realisation that policy goals sometimes alter rapidly would help us better understand the logistics of scientific advice. Many scientists want their evidence to inform policy rather than determine the options selected. Since the process by which evidence leads to decisions is obscure, policy cannot be said to be evidence-based.<br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Scientific advisors need to know policy goals, but these can be obscure and changeable.</li><br /><li>Many scientists want their evidence to inform policy rather than determine the policy selected.</li><br /><li>Evidence feeds into decisions in obscure ways, so policy cannot be said to be evidence-based.</li><br /><li>‘Evidence-informed’ policy is a more feasible aim than ‘evidence-based’ policy.</li></ul>

Rusunawa dan Sandwich Generation: Resiliensi Masa Pandemi di Ruang Perkotaan

This study aims to analyze resilience from sandwich generation during the pandemics concerning the needs for living place (rusunawa) in city space East Java province. Rusunawa is a part of strategic plan from Flats directorate, ministry of public works and society housing in 2020-2024 which provides new houses for about 107-967 units through program flats building, special house and stimulant budget for constructing new self-subsistent house. Rusunawa is made especially for the people who has low income, and were built in around 18.380 unit. The method of taking data is using in-depth interviews on four members of sandwich generation which located in Malang, Probolinggo, Surabaya, and Sidoarjo also second data resources in form of empirical study report and government documents which related strategic plan rusunawa construction, the number of sandwich generation, also number of possession status of the rental house. The result is the narratives of experiences of sandwich generation for choosing a place to live also the interaction that happened among the sandwich generation in defining urban resilience. This debate happens in the context of understanding and embedding the word of tough and defense city in the thought of the sandwich generation. The economy factor happened dominantly to the sandwich generation for choosing the needs of a place to live other than the capacity of economy capacity, human, also disturbance during pandemic. All together think about the economy capacity which they had in a way of more to choose a place to stay with ste status of 'rental house' than possesed their own house without considering another capacities in the elements of city defense. This thing become contradictory in the middle of effort of the government which getting intense to the evaluation of indicator of the tough city for manifesting city defense.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IBN KHALDUN'S URBAN PLANNING AND THE PLANS OF THE LOCAL AUTHORITY OF BANDAR BARU BANGI

Urban planning is a combination of two important factors: arts and science. It is used to facilitate the economic, social, political and physical changes of an area, including the selection of urban location, shape, and impact of urban planning. Comprehensive planning realizes the needs of the population with strong support from the local political authority. This study analyses the relationship between Ibn Khaldun's urban planning principles to Bandar Baru Bangi's urban planning and physical development. This study uses the content analysis method from the primary source of Ibn Khaldun's “Mukadimah” and government documents; the Rancangan Tempatan Majlis Perbandaran Kajang (Pengubahan 4) 2020 [RT MPKj (P4) 2020]. It is the official document that discusses the proposal of land use and physical development in the Majlis Perbandaran Kajang (MPKj) area. Special planning guidelines were used to develop Bandar Baru Bangi (BBB) as "Bandar Ilmu" (Knowledge City) and also part of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. Urban planning by Ibn Khaldun and the Cyber Centre Planning Guidelines by MPKj in RT MPKj (P4) 2020 have similarities and differences. It is because of the wide time interval between both (years 1344 and 2011). The impact of technology provides different views and plans in both. However, urban planning goals and objectives remain the same: to provide comfort, convenience, and peace for people to conduct daily routines while improving security and progress.

Technology-Based Learning Innovation In the Pandemic Covid-19

This article aims to analyze and describe technology-based learning innovations during the pandemic Covid-19. Learning innovations are expected to provide solutions and prevention of Covid-19. The research method used is qualitative research with a literature review method. Data collection was carried out by tracing various sources in the form of government documents, mass media, and relevant research results previously analyzed using policy research and supported by the results of interviews with several elementary school students. Data analysis using Content Analysis. The results of this study indicate that government policies in tackling the spread of the corona virus (Covid-19) have an impact on the emergence of new concepts related to technology-based learning innovations that can be applied. These learning innovations include Learning from Home: Collaboration between schools and parents, learning as an opportunity as well as a challenge, and the innovation of the Blended Learning learning model. It is hoped that these innovations can provide optimal results and can increase collaboration between parents, teachers, and the government in order to realize quality education and be able to compete globally. Technology-based learning innovation is expected not only to take place during the pandemic Covid-19, but can be applied after Covid-19 ends for more advanced and quality education.

The Dynamics of Cross-Sector Collaboration in Centralized Disaster Governance: A Network Study of Interorganizational Collaborations during the MERS Epidemic in South Korea

The debate continues as to which governance structure is most appropriate for collaborative disaster response, particularly between centralization and decentralization. This article aims to contribute to this debate by analyzing the structural characteristics of a multisectoral network that emerged and evolved under strong state control during the 2015 outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS) in South Korea. This study particularly focuses on the evolution of intra- and inter-sectoral collaboration ties in the network. The data for the study were collected through a content analysis of government documents and news articles. Using social network analysis, the authors found that the network evolved into a centralized structure around a small number of governmental organizations at the central level, organizing the ties between participating organizations rather hierarchically. The network displayed a preponderance of internal ties both among health and non-health organizations and among public and nonpublic health organizations, but under different influences of structural characteristics. This tendency was intensified during the peak period. Based on these findings, the authors conclude that the centralization of disaster management may not or only marginally be conducive to cross-sector collaboration during public health disasters, calling for a careful design of governance structures for disaster response.

Aboriginal Australian mental health during the first 100 years of colonization, 1788–1888: a historical review of nineteenth-century documents

Past histories charting interactions between British healthcare and Aboriginal Australians have tended to be dominated by broad histological themes such as invasion and colonization. While such descriptions have been vital to modernization and truth telling in Australian historical discourse, this paper investigates the nineteenth century through the modern cultural lens of mental health. We reviewed primary documents, including colonial diaries, church sermons, newspaper articles, medical and burial records, letters, government documents, conference speeches and anthropological journals. Findings revealed six overlapping fields which applied British ideas about mental health to Aboriginal Australians during the nineteenth century. They included military invasion, religion, law, psychological systems, lunatic asylums, and anthropology.

Building Stories: Oral History, Built Heritage & Numinous Fabric

<p>Carman and Sørensen’s book Heritage Studies: Methods and Approaches challenges us to reconsider and extend methodologies in heritage studies. This thesis takes inspiration from their book to ask how and why heritage practitioners and academics researching built heritage should use oral history as a useful qualitative tool in their research process. In the New Zealand context, researchers find it difficult to find information for the period that spans the Second World War to the present, due to the common practice of restricting access to recent official records and government documents, in most cases due to sensitivities about privacy, and the cessation of the Papers Past newspaper resource. This thesis asks if researchers could fill this gap by drawing on tools from the fields of public history and oral history and by doing this extend and refine the theory and practice of heritage studies and heritage management. To test this approach, I have undertaken a case study of the historic building, Ngaroma, in Wellington’s Lyall Bay. The methodology I have followed involved first delving into the building’s history through library and archival sources; I then conducted nine interviews with people who have had a connection to the building. The data I have gathered about both the physical and social fabric of Ngaroma and its history has built up a picture of life in the building. Memory, senses and emotion have emerged as important aspects of my findings. In analysing the results, I have extended the established binary understanding of the physical and social fabrics of the building and developed the concept of ‘numinous fabric’. In doing so I argue that we can identify the overlap between physical fabric and social fabric which can guide and inspire the way we can go about interviewing people by linking extant fabric with intangible things such as memories. This thesis finds that oral history can be used to tap into a rich source of material that adds depth and dimension to our understanding of the built heritage around us. It encourages all academics and heritage professionals researching historic buildings to undertake oral interviews as a central qualitative methodology and in doing so to bring together heritage theory and heritage management practice.</p>

The Czechoslovak Orient: Carpathian Ruthenia as an Imagined Colonial Space

<p>In 1919 the territory of Subcarpathian Ruthenia joined the new state of Czechoslovakia under the terms set by the Treaty of Saint Germain. During the following twenty years a relationship developed between Czechs and Ruthenia’s Rusyn inhabitants which this study considers as an example of imperialism and colonialism. The Czech media applied a colonial framework in its portrayals of Ruthenia, encouraging the Czech public to see the poor and undeveloped territory as a colony ruled from Prague. Rusyns also used colonial terminology as a means of criticizing the Czech officials who ruled them. The colonial discourse occurred despite a shared Slavic ethnic background and even as representatives of both nations expressed brotherhood and solidarity towards one another. Some Czech officials sent to Ruthenia adopted imperialist attitudes and practices in an environment of minimal bureaucratic oversight, leading to friction with the Rusyn intelligentsia. Faced with the threat of Czechization, Rusyns struggled to achieve autonomy and an anti-imperialist movement supporting Rusyn rights developed among Czech Communists. The Prague government sought to defend its actions in Ruthenia against accusations of mistreatment by the Hungarian revisionist movement. The existing Anglophone and Czech-language historiography on interwar Ruthenia generally portrays Czech rule as kindly and beneficial for the Rusyn population, focusing on Slavic kinship. Aiming to provide a fresh and detailed analysis of the Czechoslovak administration and the cultural forces at work in forming a colonial discourse, this study draws on an extensive range of government documents, newspapers and archival materials collected in Prague and Brno. By applying the theories of Edward Said, Jürgen Osterhammel, Maria Todorova and Kristin Kopp, the relationship is assessed through the terminology of discursive and material colonialism, together with Orientalism, liberal imperialism and internal colonialism. Three different areas of scholarly interest are the focus of this study: symbolic geography and colonial discourses in European contexts, political and social developments in Ruthenia, and treatment of national minorities in interwar Czechoslovakia. The study includes eight chapters which alternate between viewing the relationship from the Czech perspective and the Rusyn perspective. The opening chapter analyzes the Czech role as Slavic leaders and benefactors in the new republic and how a Czech humanitarian mission became a mission civilisatrice. The second chapter focuses on the shift in thinking among Rusyns from jubilation after joining the republic to growing disillusionment over denial of political autonomy. Chapters three and four describe the formation of a discursive colonial relationship; the third chapter presents how Czechs imagined Rusyns in the mold of colonial stereotypes, while the fourth chapter analyzes how Czechs and Rusyns imagined their relationship through comparisons to other colonial regions such as Africa, the Orient and Siberia. Chapter five focuses on the experiences of Czech officials working in Ruthenia, highlighting the shift in Rusyn perceptions of these administrators from Slavic brothers to imperialists. The role played by Czech official and publisher František Svojše as a symbol of Czech chauvinism receives special attention in the analysis. The sixth chapter covers the Czech anti-colonial movement among Communists and left-wing authors such as Ivan Olbracht who condemned the imperialist character of the Czech administration in Ruthenia. Chapter seven outlines the Rusyn struggle for autonomy and resistance of Czechization until the achievement of an independent parliament in 1938. The final chapter describes the Czech fear of imperial loss, analyzing how Czech media and politicians defended Czechoslovak rule in Ruthenia against international criticism and the Hungarian revisionist movement.</p>

Building Stories: Oral History, Built Heritage & Numinous Fabric

<p>Carman and Sørensen’s book Heritage Studies: Methods and Approaches challenges us to reconsider and extend methodologies in heritage studies. This thesis takes inspiration from their book to ask how and why heritage practitioners and academics researching built heritage should use oral history as a useful qualitative tool in their research process. In the New Zealand context, researchers find it difficult to find information for the period that spans the Second World War to the present, due to the common practice of restricting access to recent official records and government documents, in most cases due to sensitivities about privacy, and the cessation of the Papers Past newspaper resource. This thesis asks if researchers could fill this gap by drawing on tools from the fields of public history and oral history and by doing this extend and refine the theory and practice of heritage studies and heritage management. To test this approach, I have undertaken a case study of the historic building, Ngaroma, in Wellington’s Lyall Bay. The methodology I have followed involved first delving into the building’s history through library and archival sources; I then conducted nine interviews with people who have had a connection to the building. The data I have gathered about both the physical and social fabric of Ngaroma and its history has built up a picture of life in the building. Memory, senses and emotion have emerged as important aspects of my findings. In analysing the results, I have extended the established binary understanding of the physical and social fabrics of the building and developed the concept of ‘numinous fabric’. In doing so I argue that we can identify the overlap between physical fabric and social fabric which can guide and inspire the way we can go about interviewing people by linking extant fabric with intangible things such as memories. This thesis finds that oral history can be used to tap into a rich source of material that adds depth and dimension to our understanding of the built heritage around us. It encourages all academics and heritage professionals researching historic buildings to undertake oral interviews as a central qualitative methodology and in doing so to bring together heritage theory and heritage management practice.</p>