Science and Society: The Impact of Science on Policy Formation

The seminar offered 17 U.S. scholars from various academic disciplines and institutions the opportunity to explore how Germany and its European neighbours view the role of science in their societies and how science shapes the formation of German and European politics.

Such controversial political and social issues as climate change and energy policy, food technology, and stem cell research formed the center of the seminar´s discussion. The seminar observed how in Germany the scientific findings in these areas put in question personal lifestyles, value systems and concepts of life. The scholars examined which roles religion, ethics, education, the media, and the various lobby groups play in setting the agenda for the German public debate and how they translate scientific findings into political action.
Moving from the national level to the European, in Brussels the scholars learnt about the different European cultural standards and legal traditions and how national ambitions and international competition affect the European attempts to arrive at a common European science policy. The presentation and discussion sessions with politicians, scientists, journalists, representatives from NGO´s, think tanks, and universities in Berlin and Brussels invited the U.S. scholars to compare how the European responses to scientific findings may differ from those in the U.S. and which traditions, interests and trends may account for different policies in the U.S. and in Europe.