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When Slovenia rolled out its national diabetes plan, they had the evidence, they had the funding, they had the centres, they had the doctors and nurses... but people didn't show up.   Simply having the right information is not enough to build an effective policy. You can't just factor out the complexities — you need to factor them in.   Heather Rogers and Jelka Zaletel tell us more about the intriguing topic of implementation science. Podcast community Join our listener community, meet other listeners and discuss science-for-policy topics! https://join.slack.com/t/scienceforpol-iju8175/shared_invite/zt-1q94fmb6r-oG3q8QKf8cxXnKMNCkR77A 

How might the future of science advice look at the global level? Will the establishment of a UN Group of Friends on Science for Action be the catalyst that elevates science advice to the highest levels of multilateral decision-making, and how will this complement the Secretary-General's renewed scientific advisory board? And what should the role of the international science community be? In this episode, Dr Salvatore Aricò, chief executive of the International Science Council, shares his experience and his vision with Toby Wardman, drawing on practical examples to illustrate how such science advice mechanisms work in practice. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities for scientists and the ISC that can help translate science into action, policy-relevant advice. Resources mentioned in this episode International Science Council: https://council.science/ Join our listener community, meet other listeners and discuss science-for-policy topics! https://join.slack.com/t/scienceforpol-iju8175/shared_invite/zt-1q94fmb6r-oG3q8QKf8cxXnKMNCkR77A

The Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy is the cherry on top of an intricate and diverse ecosystem that provides for the science and evidence needs of policymakers in the Netherlands. It has a unique mandate: to look beyond the daily cut and thrust of politics, to challenge both government and parliament to think about important strategic issues that stretch into the future. Oh, and it reports directly to the prime minister.   Too good to be true? You might well think so. But here's its secretary, Frans Brom, to explain why you're wrong.   Listener community Join our listener community, meet other listeners and discuss science-for-policy topics! https://join.slack.com/t/scienceforpol-iju8175/shared_invite/zt-1q94fmb6r-oG3q8QKf8cxXnKMNCkR77A  Resources mentioned in this episode Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy

In this episode, Bárbara Willaarts and Thomas Schinko from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis explain why transdisciplinarity means more than just collaborating with other areas of science, and why co-creation means more than just working with policymakers to understand their needs... and why both are needed to give really good quality policy advice.

In this bonus episode shared from the limited-run podcast The Trust Race, Shane Bergin discusses public and political trust in science, using the advice on mask-wearing during the Covid-19 pandemic as an example. To listen to other episodes from The Trust Race, visit https://open.spotify.com/show/6jQ59Bxy7vGRecSzinxuaj. 'The Trust Race' has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870883. The information and opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Commission.

Education is an interesting case study for the science-policy interface. It combines a complex, multi-stakeholder ecosystem, a range of different academic approaches, and very high political salience. Maybe that's why John O'Connor, a senior policymaker in the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland, made it the subject of his PhD. He's here to tell us what makes science advice effective in education — and what makes it fail.   With a bonus whirlwind tour of the entire science-policy ecosystem in Ireland!

Ninety-nine brave adventurers have gone before. Who shall have the privilege of being the one hundredth guest on the Science for Policy podcast? And will they survive the ordeal? Join our brand new podcast community -- discuss what you've heard, ask questions to guests and and meet fellow listeners! Sign up here: https://join.slack.com/t/scienceforpol-iju8175/shared_invite/zt-1q94fmb6r-oG3q8QKf8cxXnKMNCkR77A 

Is financial advice science advice? How independent can a financial advisor be? Did the world of economic policy advisors have their epiphany in 2008 in the same way that other sciences did in 2020? If anyone can answer these questions, it's Professor Jan-Pieter Krahnen!

In a complex science-for-policy ecosystem, what role is filled by the so-called 'knowledge-brokering organisation'? It's not a scientific organisation, nor a science advisor, nor a think-tank, nor a policymaker. Yet these organisations abound and they can be highly influential — as Professor James Downe and Dr Eleanor MacKillop argue.   In this episode, these two experts on this under-appreciated corner of the policymaking world explain to Toby Wardman the roles, challenges and strategies that characterise the work of knowledge-brokering organisations around the world.

What's that misshapen, lumbering form looming from the shadows? Why, it's the old linear model of science advice, already killed a thousand times over, but somehow still living -- and it's coming for YOU.   Luckily, we have Professor Carina Keskitalo to hammer (another) stake into the heart of this monstrosity, with a tour-de-force about why you can't just tell your social scientists to shut up and do stakeholder engagement. Shoulder your crossbow, clutch your crucifix and enjoy!   Resources mentioned in this episode The social aspects of environmental and climate change. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-191872  Help us choose a channel for our listeners' community: https://bit.ly/3XE8LRY 

When science advisors are employed by governments, how do they reconcile the competing needs to accurately convey the science, while ensuring it can be of maximum use in the current political context? Dr Christiane Gerblinger has one answer: her research suggests that advisors adopt strategies to make themselves deliberately ignorable.   Resources mentioned in this episode How Government Experts Self-Sabotage: The language of the rebuffed. https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/how-government-experts-self-sabotage 

So you want to be a science advisor? The bad news: there aren't really any books, powerpoint presentations or training courses that can teach you the skills you need. The good news: doctoral researcher Noam Obermeister has found out everything he can about the learning journeys of scientists who work with policymakers, both what they learn and how. And he might even be able to tell you if you will sink or swim.   Resources mentioned in this episode Twitter thread on science advisors' learning journeys: https://twitter.com/NObermeister/status/1584932780840194048 

On this podcast, and in the world of science advice studies generally, we spend a lot of time discussing the science-policy interface and what should exist on the 'science' side of it in order to most effectively support policymaking. But Professor Sir Geoff Mulgan asks a different question: what happens on the other side of the interface, when policymakers are landed with a vast array of knowledge, theory and opinion, and have to somehow construct from that — and their own political and economic realities — an intelligible way forward.

We live in an age of crisis — and the crises that we face are more numerous, more widespread and more overlapping than ever before. In the chaos of high-pressure, life-and-death policymaking, politicians could benefit not just from scientific advice but also from the input of ethicists. That's where Barbara Prainsack, chair of the European Group on Ethics and New Technologies, comes into the picture.   Resources mentioned in this episode Statement on values in times of crisis: https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/document/1690e112-9826-4ede-811b-fad63167b9d9_en (available from 22 November) Evidence review report and Scientific opinion on strategic crisis management in the EU: https://www.sapea.info/crisis/ (available from 22 November)

Evidence is not the exclusive province of science advisors and science advice institutions. And especially in policy areas where those institutions are weak or absent, other forces rush to fill the vacuum: stakeholders, lobbyists, interest groups.   In this epsiode, Dr Rebecca Natow talks to Toby Wardman about federal education policy in the US, a domain that employs a 'negotiated rulemaking' methodology to try to find consensus among many stakeholders — even though scientific input is also legally mandated. The result is a swirling, politically-infused debate around the meaning of both quantitative and qualitative evidence.   Resources mentioned in this episode Reexamining the federal role in higher education https://www.tcpress.com/reexamining-the-federal-role-in-higher-education-9780807766767  Higher education rulemaking: the politics of creating regulatory policy https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/11563/higher-education-rulemaking 

Marie Skłowdowska-Curie Fellowships, administered by the European Union, are some of the world's most prestigious academic fellowships, supporting researchers from all disciplines and at all stages of their careers. But alongside the core programmes are a growing number of activities designed to help researchers to interact with policymakers, from both the MSCA programme and the Alumni Association that has grown up around it. In this episode, Marija Mitic and Jaishree Subrahmaniam discuss their science-for-policy work and the challenges faced by early-career researchers.

When a giant comet is hurtling towards Earth... when US president Orlean is more concerned about her approval ratings than preventing the extermination of all life... when the policy advice of America's greatest scientific minds is falling on deaf ears... when there is panic on the streets and the world's best response is capitalist greed...   Who you gonna call?   The world may be 99.7% doomed, but at least we have Chloe Hill on the line to point out what went wrong and how the science advisors could have made a difference.   Resources mentioned in this episode Don't Look Up (Netflix): https://www.netflix.com/title/81252357  EGU blog post: https://blogs.egu.eu/geolog/2022/02/04/geopolicy-dont-look-up-could-better-science-advice-have-saved-the-planet/  JRC report on values and identities: https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/projects-activities/values-identities-policymakers-guide_en  Episode on JRC competence framework: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgggHbVuEDA 

The emergence of English as the dominant international language of science has some significant downsides. One is the impact this has on science advice, where non-English-speaking countries risk finding themselves behind the curve in terms of both scholarship and practical applications.   As part of his presidency of the International Network for Governmental Science Advice, Professor Rémi Quirion of Québec has made it his mission to broaden our linguistic outlook. In this joint episode co-published with INGSA, he talks to Toby Wardman of SAPEA about the role of global networks in reaching not only national governments, but also regions, cities, teachers and students across the world.   Resources mentioned in this episode INGSA: https://ingsa.org/ Conversation with Leonie Tanczer: https://sapea.info/podcasts/leonie-tanczer-maria-jarquin-natasha-boyd/ 

From Brussels to Warsaw, Professor Janusz Bujnicki is helping to shape the future of scientific advice. In this episode, he compares his experiences advising the European Commission with current efforts to develop more high-level science advice mechanisms in his home country of Poland. With Toby Wardman of SAPEA, he discusses the value of transparency versus discretion, the distinction between policy-for-science and science-for-policy, and how to make mistakes gracefully as part of the learning process.

Solly Zuckerman was the first chief scientific advisor to the UK government, a post he himself defined, and arguably one of the first to hold such a post in the world. His views, experiences and anecdotes from both the Second World War and the Cold War -- as described in a thousand or so pages of autobiography -- are so valuable that Mark Ferguson, today's guest, wishes he'd read them before he became chief scientific advisor to the Irish government. Don't make the same mistake as Mark and leave your study of Zuckerman until your retirement. Listen to this episode today! Resources mentioned in this episode From Apes to Warlords: https://www.amazon.com/apes-warlords-Solly-Zuckerman/dp/0060148071 Monkeys, Men and Missiles: https://www.amazon.com/Monkeys-men-missiles-autobiography-1946-88/dp/0002175010