Other science expertise
Science and science communication is a passion for Biotext staff members. Janet Salisbury, Biotext's founder and director, has been involved in a number of science analysis and communication activities in addition to her Biotext work.
Engaging with the public on emerging science issues
Over the years, Janet Salisbury has presented a number of talks and papers about engaging with the public on emerging issues in scientific research, such as genetically modified food and human embryo research.
In 2005, Janet collaborated with Barbara Nicholas, a bioethicist from New Zealand, to review international initiatives to promote public engagement in the development and oversight of emerging scientific technologies, as a background paper for government committees and expert groups who undertake public consultation on bioethical and emerging science issues.
Download their paper, Review of public engagement in the development and oversight of emerging technologies (‘science and society’) (PDF 302 kb)
Evidence-based environmental management
Over the past few years, Janet Salisbury has been developing the idea that the principles of 'evidence-based practice' could also be applied to environmental management.
In 1972, British epidemiologist Archie Cochrane drew attention to the collective ignorance of health professionals about the effects of health care (Cochrane 1972). He recognised that many treatment-related decisions were not based on reliable reviews of the available evidence but on an ad hoc selection of information from the vast scientific literature, expert opinion and trial and error. These same words could be used today to describe environmental management decisions and it may be time for environmental scientists to follow the example of the 'Cochrane Collaboration' in healthcare to collate and critically assess all the available evidence for environmental management.
In 2002, Janet joined Ioan Fazey of the Centre for Resource and Environmental Science at the ANU to explore this idea further and in June that year they cohosted a symposium on the subject. Ioan and Janet further developed the ideas from the symposium and from Ioan's PhD work to write a journal article, which was published in Environmental Conservation in 2004.
- Can methods applied in medicine be used to summarize and disseminate conservation research? Abstract of paper published in Environmental Conservation 31, 2004
- The environment goes to the doctor but is the treatment evidence based? (PDF 13 kb) Discussion paper prepared by Janet Salisbury, May 2001
- Evidence-based environmental management: What can medicine and public health tell us? (PDF 27 kb) Report of symposium, ANU, June 2002
- The nature and role of experiential knowledge for environmental conservation. Abstract of paper published in Environmental Conservation, 2006
Antibiotic resistance risk analysis
After her involvement with the Joint Expert Technical Advisory Committee on Antibiotic Resistance (JETACAR), Janet Salisbury joined with committee members (Terry Nicholls and John Turnidge, Canadian food microbiologist Anna Lammerding and Mike Nunn from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry) to write a risk analysis framework for assessing the risks of antibiotic use in food-producing animals.
- Salisbury JG, Nicholls TJ, Lammerding AM, Turnidge J and Nunn MJ (2006). A risk analysis framework for the long-term management of antibiotic resistance in food-producing animals. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 20:153–164.
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