Academies’ advice to policy-making – impact and strategies
Wednesday, 6 September, 11:30 – 12:15
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Budapest
Moderator: Professor Bärbel Friedrich, former Vice-President of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
Session objectives: The session is intended to showcase concrete examples of academies providing advice to policy-makers to solve real-world challenges. A focus will be laid on the question how academies can facilitate the dialogue between the actors – experts and policy-makers – at the science-policy interface. Furthermore, the session will discuss how the academies’ contributions can gain impact in the legislative and decision-making processes and how policy-makers can best be encouraged to make use of the expert advice.
Agenda: After a short introduction by the moderator including experiences of the German academies’ work in the field of policy advice, the session will comprise two short presentations of around 10 minutes each, followed by a 20 minutes discussion with the audience, providing for Q&A and for other academy delegates to share concrete experiences of providing policy advice in other contexts and countries.
Presented showcases from Academies:
- In his presentation, Dr Roger Pfister, Head of International Cooperation at the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences, will showcase the work of the Swiss Academies in analysing the findings of the 5th IPCC Assessment Report IPCC with a view to formulate policy advice on the impact of climate change on the people and the environment in Switzerland, in particular. This presentation will particularly discuss the academies’ strength in analysing global data and making it applicable at nation level.
- On the basis of the report Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative Sherrie Forrest, Senior Program Officer, Program on Risk, Resilience, and Extreme Events in the Policy and Global Affairs Division of the US National Academy of Sciences will present how the Academy has worked with decision makers across the United States to implement the recommendations of that report to build resilience at the community level. Her presentation will focus on reimagining the role academies can play in understanding and communicating tenets of resilience, while helping decision makers build resilience in their jurisdictions. Actions related to goal setting, information interpretation, and measures of resilience, in combination with Academies’ convening power, can result in innovative programs and impact beyond a written report.