Research about Complexity and Science for Policy

I am a Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow at the Urban Transformation and Global Change (TURBA) lab, Univesitat Oberta de Catalunya, and Associate Professor II at the Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities (SVT), University of Bergen. I work on the challenges of uncertainty and complexity that emerge when scientific knowledge is used in the governance of environmental issues, with a particular focus on energy transitions, urban sustainability and the digital turn in environmental governance. In my research, I analyse and theorise how quantitative evidence, uncertainty and innovation are mobilised in environmental and development policies.

My work builds on the interdisciplinary subfield of post-normal science. According to post-normal science, when decision-making processes are confronted with situations in which “facts are uncertain, values are in dispute, stakes are high and decisions are urgent” (Funtowicz and Ravetz 1993), problems may not have clear solutions. In these situations, it is important to assure the quality of the knowledge used to inform decisions and the quality of deliberative processes.