The virtual seminar will be held from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Scientific and technological information is relevant to many of the critical issues Congress faces, such as cybersecurity, climate change, nuclear power, food security, health care, and digital privacy. In performing their functions as elected officials, Members of Congress rely on receiving information from complex advisory systems: formal and informal networks of expertise both within the legislature and externally. Legislators need help addressing the informational deluge as the amount of technical information relevant to policy decisions grows, technological change accelerates, and innovation is sought to spur economic growth. Yet, despite a growing number of case studies, little is known about many facets of how legislators obtain advice on scientific and technological issues. But with the growth of social science research on this topic, this is changing. This talk will focus on how lawmakers obtain the information they need to make decisions about the many policy issues in which science plays a role. By understanding more about the capacity of Congress to access, interpret, and use information on science and technology, we can better understand how to improve its science and technology advisory system.
About the speaker. Laura Manley is the inaugural Director of the Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Led by former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, the project aims to steer rapid technology-driven change in directions that serve net, long-term public good. Laura is also a Senior Consultant for the World Bank Group and the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs. Previously, Laura co-founded the Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE) in Washington DC, which is a nonpartisan research organization that works with governments to leverage data for social and economic good. At CODE, she worked with over a dozen U.S. federal agencies on their data management strategies and with eight national governments on their digital economy policies and IT modernization efforts. She is also the lead author of the Open Data for Business Tool, which is a World Bank assessment methodology for private sector use of government data. Laura is an Adjunct Professor at the NYU Wagner School of Public Policy, where she teaches Data for Social Innovation and Instructor at the Harvard University Extension School, teaching Data-Driven Decision Making for Business Leaders.
Read her last report on this topic here.