Coronavirus outbreak

Improving Interdisciplinary Knowledge Integration in Public Health Crisis Management

Duration
2023 until 2023
Project member(s)
Dr Lohse, S. (Simon) , Karim Bschir (St. Gallen, Switzerland) , Stefano Canali (Milan, Italy) , Jörn Knobloch (Lübeck, Germany)
Project type
Research

This project examines the role of the sciences in policy advice during the COVID- 19 crisis. We pay special attention to the (lack of) interplay between biomedical and social scientific expertise in pandemic management in Europe. Using methods from political science and philosophy of science, we pursue three main goals:

  1. A detailed description and assessment of the role of the social and life sciences in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2. An analysis of the differences in epistemic practices of the life and social sciences and the challenges for interdisciplinary knowledge integration in this context.
  3. The development of starting points for improving interdisciplinary knowledge integration in evidence-based policy-making, especially in public health policy.

The expected project outcomes are a deeper understanding of political and epistemological challenges for interdisciplinary knowledge integration and recommendations for expanding epistemic pluralism in the context of policy advice.

Results

Key publications:

Bschir, K., & Lohse, S. (2022). Pandemics, Policy, and Pluralism. A Feyerabend- inspired Perspective on COVID-19. Synthese (forthcoming). Preprint: http://philsci- archive.pitt.edu/21216/

Lohse, S., & Canali, S. (2021). Follow *the* Science? On the Marginal Role of the Social Sciences in the COVID-19 Pandemic. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 11 (Article 99). Doi: 10.1007/s13194-021-00416-y

Lohse, S., & Bschir, K. (2020). The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case for Epistemic Pluralism in Public Health Policy. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 42(4), 58. Doi: 10.1007/s40656-020-00353-8

Funding

Volkswagen Foundation

Partners

University of Lübeck, Radboud University, Politecnico di Milano, University St. Gallen

Contact information