Never has there been a rallying point for science advice at a global scale as we are now experiencing with the COVID-19 pandemic. With it come the hallmarks of advising in a time of crisis: the evidence is uncertain, the science is fast-moving, the stakes are high and, in some public discussions at least, values are in dispute.
Our goal is to mobilise the INGSA network to help keep track of HOW policy interventions are being made by various national and sub-national (state, province, etc.) governments across the world. We are interested in the advice, evidence or other justifications that underpin governments’ decisions as the crisis unfolds.
The collated date will be used to generate individual pandemic timelines for each jurisdiction that we can reach through the INGSA network (please spread the word if you have colleagues in countries not already covered!).
Here is how the project may help:
- These timelines and the data you enter will be made publicly accessible. This means that one jurisdiction’s timeline and underlying evidence and information may serve to help others in real time. We encourage researchers to utilise this data freely, on the condition that the Evidence-To-Policy Tracker is cited (See Below)
- Over time, we will use these data to compare timelines and – importantly – the evidence/justification on which decisions were based. This may help to identify patterns of knowledge and idea sharing in crisis, as well as identifying where there have been lags or blind spots and how these have been addressed.
We cannot predict all of the outputs and insights that will arise from this Citizen-Social-Science research project. We are grateful for your willingness to take this journey with all of us in the INGSA network!
CITING THE EVIDENCE TO POLICY TRACKER
Should you utilise this data in your work please include the citation:
The International Network for Global Science Advice (INGSA) COVID-19 Evidence to Policy Tracker 2020 https://covid.ingsa.org/covid/policymaking-tracker