07
The role of beliefs and values
in shaping evidence for
climate change policy
Beliefs and values are often viewed as separate from
scientific evidence, but they can affect how evidence is
generated and presented, especially with regard to policy.
Ruth Machen, a research postgraduate in the Department
of Geography, is investigating the boundary between
evidence and belief in Scottish climate change policy.
In 2011, the government of Scotland redesigned how it
engages with climate science in order to make publicallyfunded science more responsive to the needs of policy.
This once again challenges traditional notions of a clear,
demarcated, linear relationship between science and policy.
Concepts of expertise and evidence are being called into
focus and the two-way exchange is made more explicit.
How is this move affecting the way in which climate change
knowledge is framed and, in what ways does it affect the
understanding of scientific knowledge as evidence? Does
distinguishing evidence from belief to legitimise policy
decisions make sense under current conditions of scientific
uncertainty and controversy surrounding climate policy? In
her PhD research, Machen will address these questions in
studying how evidence-based policymaking is constructed
both politically and scientifically.
Prioritising early cancer
diagnosis for improving
community health and
saving lives
CANCER survival rates can be significantly improved
if patients are diagnosed early. The number of pre-referral
consultations is often used as an indicator of patient
experience, along with time intervals between first
consultation and diagnosis.
Professor Greg Rubin, together with colleagues from the
University of Cambridge and North Wales Clinical School,
examined data from the 2010 National Cancer Patient
Experience Survey in England. They found a wide variation
between different cancers in the proportion of patients
who had visited their general practitioner three or more
times prior to hospital referral. Their analysis accounted
for patients’ age, sex, ethnicity and measures of socioeconomic deprivation.
Both young patients aged 16-24 and women were more
likely to have had three or more pre-referral consultations
for most common forms of cancer, but not stomach
cancers and melanoma, in comparison to older, white and
male patients. There was also variation in the number
of consultations according to cancer type. For example,
patients with colon, ovarian, pancreatic, lung cancers
and Hodgkin’s lymphoma were more likely to visit their
GP three or more times before hospital referral. Findings
from the study can help prioritise initiatives and further
research.
The researchers recommend further exploration and
assessment of physician-level education interventions,
further development of point-of-care decision aids, risk
calculators and diagnostic tests, and redesigning of
systems already in place in order to make best use of
specialist diagnostic tests such as imaging and endoscopy.
Key Finding: There are inequalities in speed of cancer
diagnosis for younger adults, women, ethnic minorities,
and for some types of cancer which require further
research and the development of targeted initiatives.
Scotland leads Western Europe in setting C02 emission reduction
targets of 42 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.
‘Variation in number of general practitioner consultations
before hospital referral for cancer: findings from the 2010
National Cancer Patient Experience Survey in England’.
The Lancet Oncology. 13,4:353-365. http://dro.dur.
ac.uk/9316