Tracey Brown (scientist)

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Tracey Brown is the director of Sense about Science. She leads the work on transparency of evidence used by governments in policy to ensure the public has the same access to evidence and reasoning as the decision makers. Brown has launched multiple initiatives with Sense about Science to expand and protect honest discussions of evidence, including AllTrials, a global campaign for the reporting of all clinical trial outcomes; and the Ask for Evidence campaign, which engages the public in requesting evidence for claims.

Contents

Career

When it was launched in 2002, [1] she became director of Sense about Science. [2] Under her leadership, [3] the organisation has created a public awareness for sound science and evidence, prompting accountability. [4]   In 2010, she drafted the Principles for the Treatment of Independent Scientific Advice which was finalised and accepted into the Ministerial Code by the UK government later that year. [5] In 2013, Brown created the public interest defence to libel in the Defamation Act 2013 and the Evidence Transparency Framework, used to audit UK government in 2016 and 2017. [6] [7] In 2015 she gave a TEDTalk on The Power of Asking for Evidence [8] and the following year was a judge for the John Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science. [9]

She is a trustee at the Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science as well as the Chair of Trustees at the Jurassica Project [10] which, in 2017, merged with another endeavour to create The Journey. [11] She is also an advisory board member of OpenTrials and was named a friend of the Royal College of Pathologists in 2009. [12]

Views

Brown is a vocal critic of the idea of a "post truth" society, advocating that the public still has great interest in sound and trustworthy evidence. [13]

Writing

She has written for The Guardian, [14] as well as periodical publications and public guides, [15] writing and editing the 2009 peer review survey. [16] She has written two books co-authored by the late science journalist, Michael Hanlon titled Playing by the Rules: How Our Obsession with Safety Is Putting Us All at Risk [17] and In the Interests of Safety. [18]

Awards and recognition

In 2010, Brown was named one of the top ten most influential people in science policy [19] and, in 2014, one of the top ten policy making scientists by the UK Science Council.

Brown received an OBE in 2017 for her services to science [20] and, in 2020, was made an honorary professor by University College London. [21]

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References

  1. ↑ "Tracey Brown - Governing Scientific Accountability in China - University of Kent". www.kent.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  2. ↑ "2017 John Maddox Prize – Sense about Science". senseaboutscience.org. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  3. ↑ Brown, Tracey (28 September 2015). "Can you handle the truth? Some ugly facts in science and sensibility". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  4. ↑ Brown, Tracey (2 October 2015). "Science and sensibility: on the untrustworthy nature of truth - podcast". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  5. ↑ "Principles for the Treatment of Independent Scientific Advice". senseaboutscience.org. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  6. ↑ "Defamation Act 2013 - Sense about Science". archive.senseaboutscience.org. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  7. ↑ "Institute for Government Evidence Transparency Framework". instituteforgovernment.org.uk. 1 November 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  8. ↑ TEDx Talks (5 January 2015), The power of asking for evidence | Tracey Brown | TEDxRoyalHolloway , retrieved 18 November 2018
  9. ↑ "2016 John Maddox Prize – Sense about Science". senseaboutscience.org. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  10. ↑ www.webmandesign.eu, WebMan -. "Wessex Entrepreneurs". www.wessexentrepreneurs.com. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  11. ↑ "Dinosaur quarry museum plan scrapped". BBC News. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  12. ↑ "Tracey Brown - Governing Scientific Accountability in China - University of Kent". www.kent.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  13. ↑ Brown, Tracey (19 September 2016). "The idea of a 'post-truth society' is elitist and obnoxious". the Guardian. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  14. ↑ Brown, Tracey (9 July 2013). "The precautionary principle is a blunt instrument". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  15. ↑ Cossu, Giulio; Birchall, Martin; Brown, Tracey (4 October 2017). "Fixing flaws in science must be professionalised". Lancet. 391 (10123): 883–910. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31366-1. hdl: 1983/eddb0b24-8623-4138-b945-d7cf694e674b . PMID   28987452. S2CID   38292636 . Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  16. ↑ "2009 Peer Review Survey". senseaboutscience.org. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  17. ↑ Brown, Tracey (2016). Playing by the rules : how our obsession with safety is putting us all at risk. Michael Hanlon. Naperville, IL. ISBN   978-1-4926-2071-6. OCLC   918591299.
  18. ↑ Brown, Tracey (2014). In the interests of safety : the absurd rules that blight our lives and how we can change them. Michael Hanlon. London. ISBN   978-0-7515-5349-9. OCLC   879399022.
  19. ↑ "The Times top ten – Sense about Science" . Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  20. ↑ "Tracey Brown OBE – Sense about Science". senseaboutscience.org. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  21. ↑ "UCL Institutional Research Information Service - Ms Tracey Brown". iris.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
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