Environmental issues are often characterised as complex issues, because their causes may be multiple and interrelated, their impacts may be uncertain and potential solutions may cause unintended consequences. In this context, the interface between science and policy is confronted with multiple challenges:

How can scientific results be communicated credibly and effectively in situations of high uncertainty?

Which decisions can wait for disputes to be solved and knowledge gaps to be filled?

What counts as evidence for policy? What counts as a solution in open-ended challenges?

Informed by a post-normal science approach, Zora Kovacic (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya)  research focuses on three main themes:

(i) the study of how scientific evidence is used in the governance of complex environmental issues,

(ii) how uncertainty affects the perception of what constitutes scientific evidence and its use in decision-making, and

(iii) the role of innovation in environmental governance.