Brian Wynne, a British expert on environmental risk assessment, will present a lecture on public policy and the potential risks related to agricultural biotechnology Thursday, Nov. 16, at the University of California, Davis. His public talk, "Ambiguous Science and the Precautionary Principle Controversy in Agriculture: Towards Reflexive Risk Assessment?" will be given at 7:30 p.m. in the campus's Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center on Old Davis Road. The "precautionary principle" is an approach to environmental and public health protection. It suggests that when scientific evidence is ambiguous and there is concern that a practice or activity might be harmful, public policy should lean toward the cautious side and establish protective regulations. Wynne is a professor of science studies and research director of the Centre for Science Studies at Lancaster University in England. He holds a doctoral degree in materials science from Cambridge University and a master's of philosophy degree in sociology of science from Edinburgh University. His research has covered technology and risk assessment and public risk perceptions, with an emphasis on the relationships between expert risk knowledge, public knowledge and policy-making. Wynne's talk will be the third of eight events in the "Biotechnology, Policy, and Society Lecture Series," held on selected Thursday evenings until early March. The series is sponsored by the campus's Center for History, Society, and Culture in an effort to present a broad range of thought on biotechnology and its social implications.