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tags: workshop2020
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# SciBeh Virtual Workshop 1.2
## Interfacing with Policy

[Session whiteboard](http://bit.ly/scibeh-policy) | [Discussion forum](https://www.reddit.com/r/BehSciAsk/comments/jkzuig/ideas_for_discussion_how_can_research_interface/)

Session overview:
As scientists, we are used to the methodologies, outputs, and communication styles of our discipline. These academic norms allow us to communicate easily with other researchers, but to be crisis-relevant, knowledge needs to be disseminated to policy makers, journalists, and the wider public.

This is not as simple as just making research open and accessible, although the principles of open science (e.g., transparency, rigour in reporting) still stand. To translate research into policy impact, we need to consider issues such as:

What is the policy problem? (Which is not usually the same as a scientific problem!)
What is the best format to communicate the research? (Bearing in mind that a public and policy audiences will not be familiar with the language of academic research.)
What is the trade-off between publishing within the policy cycle and publishing a 'perfect' paper?

After all:

>[The best quality information available quickly is better than perfect information that can’t be accessed until it’s not helpful.](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/completely-new-culture-doing-research-coronavirus-outbreak-changes-how-scientists)

In this session, we seek to understand how the wider science community can be policy-relevant by asking questions such as:

* What formats do policy makers and practitioners require?
* What kind of outputs can we provide?
* What ways could we crowd source expertise to synthesise, critique, and distill existing and new knowledge?
* How do we tackle the challenge of short time frames in the policy cycle?
* How do we avoid being ‘too political’ when communicating research?

_Speakers:_

**[Alison Wright](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/research/clinical-educational-and-health-psychology/research-groups/health-psychology-research-28)** is a senior research associate at UCL, leading the team of behavioural science researchers working on the [Human Behaviour Change](https://www.humanbehaviourchange.org/) project. In this session, she will talk about this project and its role in providing evidence about interventions to different users.

**[Lindsey Pike](http://www.bristol.ac.uk/red/people/person/lindsey-a-pike/)** is an Impact and Policy Engagement Manager and Policy Bristol Associate for the University of Bristol, and was a researcher on the [Evidence Information Service](https://www.bath.ac.uk/projects/evidence-information-service/) project. In this session, she will talk about the wider context of research and policy, and her experiences bridging the two.

_Panellists:_

**[Paulina Lang](https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulina-lang-phd-87a23926/)** is a Behavioural Scientist in the Cabinet Office of the UK Government, with expertise in how policy-makers apply evidence in their work.

**[Mirjam Jenny](https://www.hardingcenter.de/en/personen/mirjam-jenny)** leads the science communication unit at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, and is an expert in science and risk communication, (digital) risk literacy, risk communication, data science and algorithmic and medical decision making.

**[Rachel McCloy](http://www.reading.ac.uk/psychology/about/staff/r-a-mccloy.aspx)** is Director of the [Centre for Applied Behavioural Science](http://www.reading.ac.uk/psychology/Research/cabs.aspx) at the University of Reading, with many years of experience working on behavioural change projects within Government and Industry, providing expertise to support evidence-based and evidence-driven policy.

**[René van Bavel](https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/person/rene-van-bavel)** works at the European Commission's [Joint Research Centre (JRC)](https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/joint-research-centre_en) on the application of behavioural insights to policy. Over the past 17 years he has contributed as a researcher and policy analyst to evidence-based EU policy-making. Prior to that he was a lecturer in social psychology.

_Session chair_:
**[Stephan Lewandowsky](http://www.cogsciwa.com/)** is Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Bristol. His research interests revolve around misinformation, science denial, and the effects of technology on democracy.