Tracey Brown is the director of

Sense about Science Sense about Science is a United Kingdom charitable organization that promotes the public understanding of science. Sense about Science was founded in 2002 by Lord Taverne, Bridget Ogilvie and others to promote respect for scientific evidence an ...

. She leads the work on transparency of evidence used by governments in policy to ensure the public has the same access to evidence and reasoning as the decision makers. Brown has launched multiple initiatives with Sense about Science to expand and protect honest discussions of evidence, including

AllTrials AllTrials (sometimes called All Trials or AllTrials.net) is a project advocating that clinical research adopt the principles of open research. The project summarizes itself as "All trials registered, all results reported": that is, all clinical tr ...

, a global campaign for the reporting of all clinical trial outcomes; and the Ask for Evidence campaign, which engages the public in requesting evidence for claims.

Career

When it was launched in 2002, she became director of

. Under her leadership, the organisation has created a public awareness for sound science and evidence, prompting accountability. In 2010, she drafted the Principles for the Treatment of Independent Scientific Advice which was finalised and accepted into the

Ministerial Code The Ministerial Code is a document setting out "rules" and standards for government ministers in the United Kingdom. Separate codes exist for ministers of the Scottish Government, the Northern Ireland Executive (based on the St Andrews Agreemen ...

by the

UK government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

later that year. In 2013, Brown created the public interest defence to libel in the

Defamation Act 2013 The Defamation Act 2013 (c 26) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which changed English defamation law on issues of the right to freedom of expression and the protection of reputation. It also comprised a response to perception ...

and the Evidence Transparency Framework, used to audit UK government in 2016 and 2017. In 2015 she gave a

TEDTalk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

on The Power of Asking for Evidence and the following year was a

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

for the

John Maddox Prize The John Maddox Prize is an international prize administered by Sense about Science in partnership with ''Nature (journal), Nature''. One or two individuals are recognised annually by the Prize for their work promoting sound science and evidence de ...

for Standing up for Science. She is a trustee at the Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science as well as the Chair of Trustees at the Jurassica Project which, in 2017, merged with another endeavour to create The Journey. She is also an advisory board member o
OpenTrials
and was named a friend of the

Royal College of Pathologists The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) is a professional membership organisation. Its main function is the overseeing of postgraduate training, and its Fellowship Examination (FRCPath) is recognised as the standard assessment of fitness to p ...

in 2009.

Views

Brown is a vocal critic of the idea of a " post truth" society, advocating that the public still has great interest in sound and trustworthy evidence.

Writing

She has written for

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, as well as periodical publications and public guides, writing and editing the 2009 peer review survey. She has written two books co-authored by the late science journalist, Michael Hanlon titled ''Playing by the Rules: How Our Obsession with Safety Is Putting Us All at Risk'' and ''In the Interests of Safety.''

Awards and recognition

In 2010, Brown was named one of the top ten most influential people in science policy and, in 2014, one of the top ten policy making scientists by the UK Science Council. Brown received an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 2017 for her services to

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and, in 2020, was made an

honorary professor Honorary titles (professor, president, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Tracey British women non-fiction writers The Guardian journalists British freedom of information activists Science activists British campaign managers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People associated with University College London Year of birth missing (living people) Living people