Fatti incerti, rischi e decisioni: la scienza nell’azione pubblica oggi | B. De Marchi, S. Funtowicz

December 1, 2025 Since 1992, with the publication of Ulrich Beck's Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, the topic of risk has assumed a central role in the social sciences. Following Beck's analyses and Charles Perrow's studies on complex systems and "almost inevitable" accidents, the colloquium offers a reflection on how contemporary risks manifest themselves today in global, interdependent, and difficult-to-predict forms. Funtowicz and Ravetz's Post-Normal Science approach will be explored, according to which, when "facts are uncertain, values ​​are in question, the stakes are high, and decisions are urgent," traditional science is insufficient to guide public action. It is therefore essential to engage an extended peer community, capable of integrating scientific knowledge and insights derived from direct experience. Significant examples of this transformation emerge in popular epidemiology and citizen science, contexts in which local communities contribute crucially to the identification and management of environmental and health risks. From this perspective, the quality of knowledge depends not only on the accuracy of data, but also on the legitimacy and credibility of the processes that generate it. Speakers: Bruna De Marchi studied political science and sociology in Bologna and the United States. She was a long-time head of the Mass Emergencies Programme at the Institute of International Sociology in Gorizia and worked as a seconded national expert at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in Ispra. She is currently affiliated with the Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities at the University of Bergen. Her research interests include disasters, environmental and health risks, governance, and citizen science. Silvio Funtowicz taught mathematics, logic, and research methodology in Argentina and was a Research Fellow at the University of Leeds. Until 2001, he worked as a scientific officer at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in Ispra. He is affiliated with the Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities at the University of Bergen, where he was an associate professor. Together with Jerome Ravetz, he developed the concept of Post-Normal Science (PNS) and the NUSAP system for assessing the quality of scientific knowledge in relation to public policy. Introduction: Giuseppe Tipaldo (Professor of Sociology of Cultural and Communication Processes, Polytechnic University of Turin)