Knowledge and Policy: Mental Health in Scotland

Our study aims to identify and understand the cognitive and intellectual roots of public policy decision making, to explore the ways of thinking which inform government. We are interested in three aspects of the relationship between knowledge and policy:

  • What do policy makers know and how do they know it?
  • How do they use what they know from different sources in making decisions?
  • How do they use different kinds of information to govern mental health?

A European project

Our work is part of the bigger, integrated European project KNOWandPOL, which covers health and education policy in eight countries and at local, national and international levels. In Scotland, our partners are Jenny Ozga, Martin Lawn and Sotiria Grek of the Centre for Educational Sociology, University of Edinburgh. You can find out more about their work here.

The project is funded by the European Commission and directed by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Solidarity and Social Innovation at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. It is scheduled to last 5 years, from October 2006 to September 2011.

Contact:

Dr Jennifer Smith-Merry, KNOWandPOL Research Fellow

School of Social and Political Science, Chrystal Macmillan Building,
15a George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD.
Tel: +44 (0) 131 651 1760
Fax: +44 (0) 131 651 3219
j.l.smithATed.ac.uk

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