Dr Zeynep Pamuk awarded Brian Barry Prize in Political Science
The British Academy, in partnership with
Cambridge University Press and the British Journal of Political Science, awards
this prize in honour of Brian Barry FBA, a founding editor of the journal. The
prize is awarded annually for excellence in political science, as displayed in
an unpublished essay.
Dr Pamuk’s essay examines the justifications offered for establishing an expansive system of government-funded basic scientific research after World War II. The purpose is to evaluate the philosophical underpinnings of these arguments at a time when funding for science seems increasingly under attack in the United States and elsewhere. She shows that past justifications have consistently neglected the political consequences of funding decisions and the status of science as the source of knowledge for the modern state. Recognizing the democratic implications of funding science is crucial because it changes what we view as the appropriate forms of political interventions into science funding.
The essay will be published in the January 2019 issue of the British Journal of Political Science.
Commenting, Dr Pamuk said: ‘I'm very honoured and delighted to have received
this prize. Brian Barry dedicated his career to exploring the interrelationship
of democracy and justice and traced its implications for the provision of
public goods. I'm proud to be able to carry this work forward in my own
research on the relationship between science and democracy in the public funding
of scientific research’.