Scientific research can and should support policy makers in navigating how to tackle societal challenges. Policy and decision makers deal with complex, knowledge demanding challenges for which simple solutions do not exist. Science can provide rigorous evidence of the challenges that they want to and must address, enabling a better understanding of the problem and assessment of the likely implications of available options.
This type of science-based contribution is able to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of policy making. This is the case for all policy challenges, but is particularly important for multi-disciplinary challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, or pandemics, which require a clear understanding of all the issues.
Lead Author: Nicola Francesco Dotti (Science Europe)
Contributors: Yamine Aït-Ameur (ANR), Patricia Clarke (HRB), Pablo Del Río (CSIC); Malin Mobjörk (Formas), Margarida Prado (FCT), Josef Stuefer (NWO), Gabriella Verbovszky (HUN-REN), Sarah Webb (UKRI).