However, with shifting challenges and changing social, economic and political contexts, it may be desirable to renew the composition of expertise in governance arrangements. Without wishing to pass direct judgment on either Coutinho or Osterhaus, I suggest that biographical ties should not grant access by default. Probing these dimensions, as this study does, assists in the assessment of the nature and structure of contemporary governance arrangements, the persons involved and their relationships to science, politics and the public sphere. Although this does not provide a prescriptive approach to expertise, such as that suggested by Collins and Evans (Collins and Evans 2007) , it may help to critically question the almost automatic policy involvement of some experts.