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The Centre for the Public Awareness of Science welcomes Dr Fabien Medvecky to our research team!   

Dr Medvecky works on the interaction between science and society, focusing on the role of values, especially ethics and economics, in social decisions around science. Before joining CPAS, Fabien was in the Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago in New Zealand. He publishes on science communication and science policy, ethics, and economics.  

Medvecky shares, “After many years of collaborating with friends there, I'm so happy to be finally infiltrating CPAS properly. It’s arguably the world’s leading and intellectually most engaging centre that works on science communication."   

"We are delighted that Fabien is joining us. His approach, both to science communication and its applications into economics will add both breadth and depth to CPAS research and teaching. Fabien also has done extensive research, teaching, and engagement in areas of responsible innovation, environmental justice, biosecurity, and ‘science as care’," states Professor Joan Leach, the Centre Director.    

Science is not value neutral, quite the contrary. We make value judgements about what is good or bad science; because it costs money to carry out scientific research, we have to value it relative to other things we could be spending out money on; and, most importantly, most of our social decisions (think health, environmental, etc) occur at the intersection between science and value. Medvecky's research focuses on this intersection. 

"What I'm most excited about is that CPAS offers a home for my two (seemingly distinct) central points of research: the ethics of science communication and the (re)imagining the role of economics in science, tech and innovation…and society more broadly. But actually, these aren't so distinct or disparate. They're both fundamentally about how we value things. What we take to be good, worthwhile, or desirable in our world. And that’s what I want to bring to CPAS; deep, considered reflection on the role of value in science, technology, innovation, and our communication of these. So I can't wait to become a fully-fledged CPASian," says Medvecky.   

Read Dr Medvecky's latest book with Vicki Macknight: https://www.makingeconomicspublic.org/