Matthew Flinders, Director of the University of Sheffield’s Crick Centre and Chairman of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom (PSA), hosted the First Minister of Scotland at the PSA’s Annual Conference recently.
The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, outlined her belief in the need for experts to be at the centre of public debates concerning the future of Scotland and the United Kingdom. The rejection of experts was, in the First Ministers mind, a backward step that failed to understand the huge value of the social and political sciences to contemporary society.
Prof. Flinders commented ‘It was wonderful to have the First Minister come along and speak at the conference. Her arguments were well-received by the audience and it was refreshing to see a politician who clearly understood the relevance and potential impact of the social sciences’.
A full video of the First Ministers Speech is available here