Following the Science: Political Epistemology and the COVID- 19 Epidemic in the UK

Following the science. This refrain was frequently invoked by
Government ministers in the UK in 2020 in order to construe a
separation between policy interventions and politics during the
COVID-19 epidemic. But what does it mean to follow the
science? This research project will consider both 'the science',
in terms of factors that shape the production of scientific
knowledge and policy recommendations, as well as the ways
in which governments 'follow' this; in other words, how are
these scientific findings translated into policy? Through this
investigation it will consider the relationship between science
and government policy by assessing the ways in which social,
political and economic factors influence the science that is
produced in a definite context, the internal logic of various
methods and disciplines that predominate contemporary
science in a policy setting, and the ways in which governments
use those recommendations to formulate policy responses.
Through a combination of critical realism and political
epistemology, and incorporating insights from both sociology
and philosophy of science, it will seek to identify the causal
processes that shaped the response to COVID-19 in the UK
and use this case study to draw broader conclusions about the
interaction between sociological and philosophical factors and
scientific knowledge in a public policy context.