President of Academia Europaea, Professor Sierd Cloetingh and AE Vice-President Professor Ole Petersen presented at the conference which attracted 300 participants from around the world.
The ‘Evidence for Policymakers’ conference took place over a number of days from 15th -18th December. In the session entitled ‘External and internal evidence-systems for policymaking: How can we optimize the development and dissemination of evidence for policymakers?’, Professor Sierd Cloetingh spoke from an international perspective whilst Professor Ole Petersen was part of the ‘behind closed doors’ session where Chatham House rules applied.
Recommendations
Recommendations were formulated at both sessions. The recommendation from the ‘International’ session, where Professor Cloetingh spoke, was:
“The need for interdisciplinarity, the broader view on the issues dealt with in the context of evidence informed advice, are essential as well as the need to explain uncertainties in scientific knowledge and the pathways in the scientific process. Independence of the advice in a trust-based dialogue with the recipients is key.”
The recommendation from the Policy-Based Evidence session, where Professor Petersen spoke, was:
“Train your scientists to be resilient (to unwanted external influences)”.
About the ‘Evidence for Policymakers’ conference
‘Evidence for Policymakers’ is an international conference all about structuring evidence and data for improved policymaking targeted at:
- Strategic policymakers on international, national and sub-national level
- Policy oriented scientists
- Coordinators of policy research
- Governmental science advisers
- Governmental data scientists
- Policy evaluators
The aim of this conference was “to bring together these experts worldwide to learn which methods and instruments can be applied for which situations and how they may improve the quality of evidence provided”.
The conference was jointly organised by Leiden University, Faculty for Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) and ScienceWorks.
Recordings of the event can only be shared with participants.
More about AE Cardiff’s work in Science Advice
As a member of the consortium of European academies (SAPEA), Academia Europaea coordinated a major evidence review on best practice in science advice. The report, Making Sense of Science for Policy, is available here.
4th January 2021. For further information please contact AECardiffHub@cardiff.ac.uk
