Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes

Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes
Name	Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes
Formation	2003
Type	Research center
Location	Phoenix, Arizona
Leader title	Director
Leader name	Dan Sarewitz
Affiliations	Arizona State University

Contents

Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes is a research center located in Phoenix, Arizona that focuses on the intersections among science, technology, policy, and society. The Consortium engages scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from institutions such as Arizona State University, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Brookings Institution, and RAND Corporation to analyze governance of emerging technologies. It produces scholarship and convenes dialogues involving stakeholders from United States Congress, European Commission, United Nations, and public agencies including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

History

The Consortium was established in 2003 at Arizona State University amid wider debates that included actors like Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and organizations such as the World Health Organization and the World Bank. Its founding corresponded with high-profile events including the Human Genome Project completion, controversies around genetically modified organism regulation in the European Union, and policy questions raised by the September 11 attacks. Early collaborations drew on scholars affiliated with Stanford University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, and Princeton University to examine case studies like biotechnology governance, lessons from the Bhopal disaster, and responses to the Seveso disaster.

The Consortium articulates goals aligned with stakeholders from entities such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Environmental Protection Agency, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its mission emphasizes improving decision-making connected to innovations exemplified by CRISPR, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence. The stated aims include informing policy processes in venues like the U.S. Congress, shaping regulatory frameworks akin to those debated in the European Parliament, and engaging civic organizations exemplified by Greenpeace and Union of Concerned Scientists.

Leadership has included scholars with ties to institutions such as Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, and London School of Economics and Political Science. Directors and faculty have interacted with advisory bodies like Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, National Research Council, and the PCAST. The Consortium operates within administrative structures of Arizona State University colleges and collaborates with centers like the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and programs connected to the Harris School of Public Policy and the Kennedy School of Government.

Research themes intersect with controversies involving pharmaceuticals and cases such as thalidomide, governance of technologies like nanomaterials and bioinformatics, and risk assessments modeled after responses to Hurricane Katrina. The Consortium has run programs comparable to initiatives at Wellcome Trust, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Gates Foundation on topics like responsible innovation, technology assessment, and science communication. It has produced outputs that converse with frameworks from Precautionary Principle debates in the European Union and regulatory approaches seen in the Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency.

Educational activities include graduate curricula and executive training analogous to offerings at Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, and Columbia University. The Consortium hosts seminars featuring speakers from MIT Media Lab, Salk Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and think tanks like Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Council on Foreign Relations. Training targets audiences ranging from staffers on committees such as the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology to practitioners affiliated with World Economic Forum initiatives and NGOs like Oxfam.

Collaborative partners have included universities such as University of Cambridge, University of Toronto, and University of Melbourne, as well as international organizations like the World Health Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, and the International Monetary Fund on crosscutting policy projects. The Consortium has worked with research funders including the National Science Foundation, European Research Council, and philanthropic entities such as the MacArthur Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. It has participated in networks with Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Oxford Martin School, and The Lancet commissions on health and policy.

The Consortium’s impact includes influencing policy dialogues in venues such as the U.S. Department of Energy, informing advisory reports for the National Institutes of Health, and contributing evidence cited in hearings before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Critics have raised concerns reminiscent of debates involving Monsanto, Theranos, and Bayer about objectivity, funding transparency, and engagement with industry stakeholders. Scholarly critiques echo disputes seen in literature about risk assessment and regulatory capture studied in analyses of the Tobacco industry and the Deepwater Horizon investigations. Defenders point to peer-reviewed outputs and collaborations with institutions like Nature Research journals, Science (journal), and interdisciplinary centers at Princeton University as evidence of rigorous practice.