Home

About the Author

Roger Jacobs, PhD is a Canadian scientist and professor of developmental genetics for 33 years and has published over 60 papers. His research applies the Drosophila genetic model to reveal the role of glial cells in the development of the nervous system. He also studies heart development and growth in Drosophila.

He is also an innovative educator, having obtained competitive funding to develop and implement novel active learning curricula in five new courses on the scientific method, introductory molecular biology, science communication, and the course upon which this book is based—pedagogical use of case studies of how science speaks to power.

Roger developed an interest in Science for Policy in the 1990’s – years of the Kyoto Protocol, the first GMO foods, cloning of Dolly the sheep, GPS and the internet. From his Drosophila lab, he wondered why good science did not compel action and weak science might be accepted uncritically. Why was there no way to correct misrepresentations of science and why were new scientific discoveries converted into technologies without informed risk management?

Being both a scientist and educator, he realised that the best way to learn the subject, and to learn from others, was to teach. Roger read for years- and wrote a paper on the Montreal Protocol. Eventually he was able to convince his Dean (thanks, Maureen) that it would be good for everyone if he could both research and teach “How Science Speaks to Power” to senior students in McMaster’s flagship interdisciplinary program, Arts and Science. There was no textbook written by or for readers with an interest in science, but a lot of scholarship in the humanities that most scientists are unaware of. This website, book and podcasts reflect the framework Roger developed to interpret and decipher cause and effect across any kind of science for policy arena. Although conceived for science trainees, those in other disciplines should find this different perspective interesting.