Prepare Scientists to Engage in ScienceāPolicy
There is a dire need for deeper scienceāpolicy engagement to face recent developments such as entering into the Anthropocene and our dependence as a species on technological and scientific advancements. However, there is a lack of preparedness and training of scientists about what scienceāpolicy engagement is and how to get involved, with substantial discrepancies globally. We present four gaps and possible solutions to those gaps to better train and prepare scientists to engage in scienceāpolicy. (1) Frame scienceāpolicy as a system. The framing of a scienceāpolicy interface is misleading. A better framing is the scienceāpolicy system, in which two processes, science and policy, are under the influence of each other. (2) Teach the scienceāpolicy system. Scientists should have a basic understanding of what the scienceāpolicy system is, and the implications that has for their research. (3) Engage in the scienceāpolicy system. Make the research on scienceāpolicy more readily accessible to the users and share experiences and lessons learned from those that have engaged in scienceāpolicy to foster greater engagement. (4) Value engagement in the scienceāpolicy system. Scientific institutions need to place greater value on scienceāpolicy engagement by setting up structures, award systems, and incentives for scientists to engage scienceāpolicy.
2020EF001628.pdf
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