In January the Law School at Birmingham hosted an SLSA-funded seminar entitled “Lost in Translation - From Science to Regulation”, organised by Dr Aleksandra Cavoski.

Dr Alex Cavoski and Professor Bob Lee speaking at a workshop on Environmental Law

This was an interdisciplinary seminar that brought together scientists from different fields with lawyers, policy-makers and practitioners. We had panel of distinguished speakers, including Professor Ian Boyd, Chief Scientific Advisor at Defra, Mr Bjorn Hansen, Head of Unit in DG Environment and Chemicals at the European Commission, Professor Liz Fisher from Corpus Christi College and Faculty of Law, Oxford University and a number of prominent speakers in the fields of science and law.

All the presentations were germane to a wider research agenda on the science-law interface and provided a valuable contribution to further understanding of law and science. During the event different regulatory approaches in using scientific knowledge to inform policy making were explored. The discussions also examined ways in which the regulator can provide responses in more accountable, transparent, open and participative ways, as well as the relationship between science, law and time.

This event opened a dialogue between participants on how we can improve the process of incorporating scientific knowledge into law and policy and further embrace the scientific culture of empirical research and testing. This was also an opportunity to build a network and forum for discussion on the interface of law and science in different policy areas and different areas within environmental law.