Book Launch- Causal Processes and Their Warrant
Join the Department of Social Policy and the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity (AFSEE) programme for the launch of Nancy Cartwright, Eileen Munro and John Pemberton’s new book ‘Causal Processes and their Warrant’.
In the book, the authors tackle a well-known pitfall in RCT-based policy evidence: in real life what works in studied populations often fails to work elsewhere. Context makes all the difference. What they offer is a way of studying your context and considering whether it will, or can be modified to, support the policy. Also, much of the time, you are using or planning a policy which has not been subjected to an RCT so how can you judge both its feasibility and likely effectiveness in your setting?
‘Causal Processes and their Warrant’ provides practical strategies for using evidence to strengthen policy design and implementation. It offers a framework for making more reliable predictions about whether a policy will be successful in your context, as well as guidance for post hoc evaluation—helping you determine not only if a policy worked as intended but also gaining deeper insights into how and why it did.
In this event the authors will present key insights/lessons from the book. They will be joined by AFSEE Senior Fellow, Hamidreza, who will share his reflections on the book.
Meet our Speakers and Chair
Speakers
Nancy Cartwright FBA FAcSS is a Professor of Philosophy at Durham University and a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Philosophy, University of California at San Diego. She specialises in the philosophy of science, especially the social and economic sciences. She has focussed in the last decade and more on evidence, objectivity and causal modelling and causal inference, with special concerns for evidence-based policy. Recent honours include the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Humanities, the Barcelona Hypatia European Science Prize Hypatia Award and the Carl Gustav Hempel Award for outstanding contributions in philosophy of science.
Eileen Munro CBE is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the LSE. She has degrees in philosophy and is a qualified social worker. Her research interests are in the knowledge and reasoning skills in the helping professions. She conducted a review of the English child protection system for the Government in 2010-11 using a systems approach. She has been working with Nancy Cartwright for 16 years on evidence, objectivity and causal inference.
Dr John Pemberton is an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Durham University. His primary focus is the ontology of change, including the bringing about of change - and hence causation. He works closely with Nancy Cartwright on topics within applied causation, focusing recently on policy evaluation and development.
Hamid Vasheghanifarahani is a researcher and activist focusing on children's rights, civil society mobilisation, disability and autism. Since 2005, he has worked with Iranian civil society organisations as a trainer, project manager and researcher. Currently, he serves as a researcher (research officer) for an AFSEE-funded project titled "Connecting Disability Justice with Wider Challenges to Inequalities". Hamidreza studied MSc Inequalities and Social Science (LSE) through the AFSEE Fellowship and MSc. Human Rights in Policy and Practice (University of Gothenburg) through Erasmus Scholarship.
Chair
Armine Ishkanian is a Professor in the Department of Social Policy and the Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme at the International Inequalities Institute. She also co-convenes the Politics of Inequality research programme at the International Inequalities Institute. Armine’s research examines the relationship between civil society, democracy, development, and social transformation. She has examined how civil society organisations and social movements engage in policy processes and transformative politics in a number of countries including Armenia, Egypt, Greece, Russia, Turkey, and the UK.
More about this event
The Department of Social Policy provides top quality international and multidisciplinary research and teaching on social and public policy challenges facing countries across the world. From its foundation in 1912 it has carried out cutting edge research on core social problems and helped to develop policy solutions.
Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, housed at the LSE International Inequalities Institute, is an innovative fully-funded fellowship that brings together policy-makers, activists, practitioners, artists, and movement-builders from around the world to explore and challenge the root causes of inequality. It is a transformative community that is working toward just and equitable alternatives to today's deeply unjust and unequal world.
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