IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v2y2016i1d10.1057_palcomms.2016.64.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Providing a “challenge function”: Government social researchers in the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (2010–2015)

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Kattirtzi

    (Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK)

Abstract

Recent research in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and related fields has scrutinized UK policy institutions’ governance of technical policy domains, revealing the prevalence of naïve assumptions about citizens’ engagement with science and technology. Government officials are characterized as wedded to institutional commitments and averse to criticism. From that perspective, technical policy issues such as energy and climate change are addressed without the sufficient interrogation of assumptions about citizens. This study, based on an analysis of 15 interviews with civil servants and over 40 documents (including evidence reviews, policy reports, stakeholder publications and parliamentary records), presents a more varied picture within the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) during the years of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition Government (2010–2015). It focuses on two priority policy areas of the time: the Green Deal and the installation of smart meters in UK homes. It is shown that government social researchers in DECC have aided policy officials to rethink their understandings of citizens. Social researchers have achieved this through their institutionalized commitment to providing an evidence-based “challenge function”. I conclude that policy development on technical topics is more likely to be effective if policy officials engage with social researchers at an early stage and if social researchers receive senior civil service representation and support. This article is published as part of a collection on scientific advice to governments.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Kattirtzi, 2016. "Providing a “challenge function”: Government social researchers in the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (2010–2015)," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 2(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:2:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1057_palcomms.2016.64
    DOI: 10.1057/palcomms.2016.64
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/palcomms.2016.64
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/palcomms.2016.64?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kattirtzi, Michael & Winskel, Mark, 2020. "When experts disagree: Using the Policy Delphi method to analyse divergent expert expectations and preferences on UK energy futures," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    2. Kattirtzi, Michael & Ketsopoulou, Ioanna & Watson, Jim, 2021. "Incumbents in transition? The role of the ‘Big Six’ energy companies in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:2:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1057_palcomms.2016.64. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.