Doctoral Research
My doctoral dissertation is an investigation of science-policy issues in the field of sustainability science that are characterised by high levels of uncertainty and complexity. I focus on situations in which the view of scientific knowledge as the best available knowledge is questioned and a plurality of non-equivalent knowledge claims exists within science. The purpose of the dissertation is to contribute to a better understanding of the challenges of complexity and uncertainty for the science-policy interface.
I argue that in the case of sustainability issues that are not well governed, the challenge is not just a matter of sloppy science or of corruption in either the scientific or political process, but there is a need for (i) a better understanding of the implications of complexity and uncertainty for science for governance, and (ii) for a quality assessment of the representations of sustainability issues used to inform policy. In order to address this challenge, I apply the conceptual and analytical tools of complexity theory in quality assessment. I focus on the criteria of pertinence and usefulness as a way of carrying out both an epistemic and a pragmatic quality assessment.
I apply these tools to three case studies in order to analyse how pertinence and usefulness unfold in practice. In the first case study, I analyse the pertinence and the usefulness of the mono-scale representations of the neo-classical economics knowledge base in the context of the financial crisis of 2007-08. In the second case study, I analyse the pertinence and usefulness of the plurality of representations and knowledge claims used in the governance of water in Israel. In the third case study, I analyse the pertinence and usefulness of the future visions of smart grids in the context of the European Union in relation to the complex energy systems of modern economies.
Publications:
Kovacic, Z. (2013). The legitimacy crisis of the economic paradigm. Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 14: 77-98. OPEN ACCESS!
Kovacic, Z. (2014). Assessing sustainability: The societal metabolism of water in Israel. International Journal of Performability Engineering, 10 (4): 387-399.
Kovacic, Z. and Giampietro, M. (2015). Beyond “beyond GDP indicators:” The need for reflexivity in science for governance.Ecological Complexity, 21: 53-61.
Kovacic, Z. and Giampietro, M. (2015). Empty promises or promising futures? The case of smart grids.Energy, 93 (1): 67-74.