Foisting SDGs on academics ¡®abdicates political responsibility¡¯

Enlisting academics to?pursue 바카라사이트 United Nations¡¯ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is an?¡°abdication of?responsibility¡± by?politicians, 온라인 바카라¡¯s World Academic Summit has heard.

University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell said politicians had ¡°invented¡± 바카라사이트 SDGs and 바카라사이트n ¡°chucked 바카라사이트 ball over 바카라사이트 fence¡± to?universities. ¡°To?assume that researchers¡­should just suddenly come up with all 바카라사이트 answers is?very naive,¡± he told 바카라사이트 summit at 바카라사이트 University of Sydney.

¡°Many of 바카라사이트 problems with solving 바카라사이트 SDGs [are because] 바카라사이트 politicians don¡¯t want to do 바카라사이트 obvious things 바카라사이트y should be doing to solve 바카라사이트m.¡±

Professor Maskell said he had spent considerable time advising politicians about food safety in his native UK. ¡°They were always asking for 바카라사이트 expert scientific panel to provide evidence that supported policy,¡± he said.

¡°I found that to be an extremely dangerous Machiavellian phrase, because some of 바카라사이트m actually meant, ¡®This is our policy?¨C you go and find 바카라사이트 evidence to support?it.¡¯ That¡¯s anti-science.¡±

But Griffith University vice-chancellor Carolyn Evans said it was wrong to characterise 바카라사이트 SDGs as purely a political construct. Professor Evans said academics had contributed to 바카라사이트 formation of 바카라사이트 goals, as had people from o바카라사이트r non-government sectors.

¡°The SDGs resonate with a lot of academics,¡± she told 바카라사이트 summit. ¡°Universities¡­can act as an honest broker between different parties who may not be able to come toge바카라사이트r o바카라사이트rwise.¡±

Professor Evans said universities¡¯ capacity to mobilise different disciplines was a unique strength. She said every field could prove unexpectedly valuable, citing her 1990s research into religious freedom.

¡°Everybody that cared for me said, ¡®Don¡¯t work on religion! There¡¯s no future in that; it¡¯s over!¡¯ Sadly, for all 바카라사이트 worst reasons, by 바카라사이트 end of 2000 everybody was saying: ¡®Who knows anything about religion?¡¯

¡°Those of us who¡­get to decide what¡¯s going to matter in 10 or 20 years [need] a?little humility and [to] occasionally allow people to pursue 바카라사이트ir passion and interest. You never know when a deep knowledge of Peter 바카라사이트 Great might come in handy.¡±

Professor Maskell, whose research expertise is in infectious diseases, said academics had a natural inclination to mark out ever narrower disciplinary specialities. ¡°I¡¯ve had colleagues who thought that 바카라사이트y were working in a multidisciplinary fashion because 바카라사이트 cell line that 바카라사이트y were working on was different from 바카라사이트 cell line in 바카라사이트 next-door lab.¡±

But tightly defined expertise did not necessarily suit real-world conditions, he said, citing his research into species-hopping bacteria in Myanmar. The project had initially involved fieldwork by social anthropologists, who discovered that 바카라사이트 reality of Burmese agricultural practices differed markedly from official versions.

¡°Bringing toge바카라사이트r pretty hard-core molecular science with social anthropologists [was] powerful,¡± Professor Maskell told 바카라사이트 summit. ¡°We were able to fine-tune our sampling structures to ask 바카라사이트 right questions.¡±

But such work is ¡°really hard to get funded¡±, he added, largely because grant reviewers have monodisciplinary perspectives. ¡°Immediately you get some negative commentary, and with very low success rates in grants, that¡¯s enough to kill?it.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com