How Academic Networks Influence Key Government Decisions

They Set Agendas

Having a good solution to a societal issue is one thing. But getting policymakers to pay attention to it is quite another. After all, policymakers are often bombarded with all sorts of ideas from their citizens, advisors, and other stakeholders, so much so that they are highly likely to ignore recommendations.

Agenda setting is all about making sure that policymakers see the value in paying attention to research findings, which researchers accomplish by doing the following:

Building Expert Teams

Individually, researchers are just another voice. But when they come together and form coalitions with experts from different fields, they become an authority. Better yet, if they involve experts from different parts of the world, they become a formidable force. For example, scientists in Germany may partner with economists in the US and technology experts in Singapore to form a coalition geared at addressing climate change.

But the work does not end with coming together. Coalitions must go the extra mile by developing and publishing reports at the same time and holding similar conferences. The more that they do this, the more they garner public attention, which makes the issue look like a global problem that policymakers cannot ignore.

Framing Their Pitches

While it would be great if policymakers centered their attention on people’s needs, the truth is that their focus is often on money, votes, and security. As such, when researchers pitch ideas that do not touch on these key areas, policymakers are unlikely to entertain the recommendations.

Researchers have thus learned how to word their pitches in ways that appeal to these policymakers. For example, instead of saying that ‘protecting the environment is the right thing to do,’ they are now more likely to tell policymakers that ‘climate change can flood coastal cities, resulting in high insurance costs and a lower GDP.’ In such a case, the economic risk can communicate more to the policymakers than the idea of doing something for the sake of right and wrong.

Taking Their Ideas to the International Stage

After framing core issues in a way that speaks to policymakers across the world, researchers then use the same talking points in global summits and forums. These speeches, in addition to their own conferences, transform their initial concepts into a global issue that attracts attention from policymakers around the world.

They Standardize Knowledge

Often, countries must work together to find solutions to global issues such as climate change, pandemics, and cybersecurity. But while they may have similar concerns and goals, policymakers often run into problems, given that what works in one region does not always work in other regions. These differences show up in various aspects, from how countries measure success to how they undertake key processes, and they pose a hurdle to effective international coordination. But that is where researchers come into the picture by doing the following:

Coordinating Joint Projects

You find that in the past, countries have often conducted their own small studies. Since these account for the nuances in specific regions, their findings are not always applicable to other countries that may wish to use them. Researchers address this by creating networks with hundreds to thousands of researchers who embark on a joint project that spans several regions. As they do so, they agree on aspects such as the software they will use, the data collection methods, the time periods to study, how they will measure each variable, and so on. In this way, they are able to compile a lot of data from different countries and analyze it jointly to thus come up with insights that cover each region.

To ensure that some regions do not skew the findings, they control for differences in locations when analyzing the data, such that they can compare the data from one region against the other even as they look at the whole picture.

Presenting One Truth

Since researchers in these networks share the same metrics and methodologies, their findings are also similar, which results in standardized results. In this way, governments from all over the world are able to review the same data and use it when coming up with new laws.

A good example of this would be the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Since it has a central view on the science concerning climate action, countries all over the world no longer have to think about whether climate change is happening, as this has already been proven. Their focus now is on solving the problem, which would have been unlikely if each country had embarked on a study on its own, and countries were now trying to standardize the results.

They Ease the Transfer of Policies

As much as there have been several positive developments in the world over the years, countries do not always take advantage of them. In fact, there are many cases where countries get so wrapped up in trying to reinvent the wheel that they forego looking at whether other countries have been successful in doing what they are trying to achieve. For example, a country may be keen on finding new ways to support new parents by coming up with better maternity and paternity leave policies that do not hurt their economies. But if they were to review what has worked in other countries, they would find that this was not a new concept and that many regions had already found success with some approaches. That is but one example.

Researchers understand that countries can adopt others’ policies effectively if they know what works and why it works. And that is why they step in with the following methods:

Pitching Success Stories

Given that researchers often review case studies, they are great at scouting for success stories regarding issues that their own governments may be trying to address. As such, they know how to hone in on other regions that have addressed the same issues with success.

Say, for example, that country B has a high rate of burnout that is affecting its productivity. Researchers can look into how other countries have approached the same issue. In their findings, they might discover that country A adopted a 4-day work week, and this boosted their GDP, and that this could also work for country B.

But, of course, given the differences in these countries, the researchers would be well aware that this would not be enough evidence for a policy change. Policymakers in country B would want to know what approaches country A used, what infrastructure was necessary, how much this cost the country, how much the GDP increased, what mistakes were made, whether this approach was sustainable in the long term, and so on. So, the researchers in country B would cover all these aspects and present a report to their policymakers, saying, ‘You want to increase the productivity in the country, and here is a proven approach.’

Organizing Field Trips

Research networks are valuable sources of information. Even so, policymakers are more inclined to trust other policymakers than what they see in a report. So, as much as researchers draft detailed reports when pitching concepts, they also tend to rely on workshops to bolster their stances.

These workshops often involve field trips where policymakers get to travel to other regions that have successfully adopted the ideas that have been pitched in the research reports. Not only do policymakers get to see the concepts in action, but they also get to interact with other officials who can share the wins and struggles behind these projects. This interactive nature builds a higher level of trust in the project than researchers would achieve by word of mouth alone.

They Directly Engage Policymakers

Researchers rely on policymakers, and the converse is also true. For this reason, researchers have learned that cultivating positive relationships with policymakers works to their benefit. And here is how they do it:

Setting Up Shop in Power Hubs

Governance hubs exist all over the world in cities like New York, Brussels, and Geneva. These are the locations where researchers are most likely to meet the top policymakers and engage them in meaningful conversations. As such, you find that most research networks have liaison offices in these cities.

This physical proximity works to their advantage as researchers are able to become part of the local scene. Not only are they able to attend the same events as these policymakers, but they are also able to establish connections with them and their assistants. This way, it becomes much easier to garner their attention when it comes to emerging research, as the policymakers start viewing the researchers as trusted neighbors rather than strangers.

Translating Studies

Policymakers usually have access to long academic studies that can span several hundred pages. But with back-to-back meetings, they seldom have the time to take in all that these reports have to offer. So, they often turn to researchers who can translate the academic version into a simple briefing.

For example, a tech expert can read an entire report on FDI inflows and fiscal transparency while absorbing almost everything. But what the policymaker would want to hear is how the transparency laws would affect foreign investments and employment opportunities. And since researchers have learned how to boil down reports to their practicality, this makes their input valuable to policymakers.

Offering Technical Advice

Many are the times that governments want to embark on projects but are unsure about how to go about it. In such cases, they can reach out to research networks where they can get access to expert consultants.

For example, a country may want to start imposing a carbon tax but may not know how to track the emissions. The policymakers could invite input from researchers who would come in as experts to draw up the technical manual. This way, both the policymakers and the researchers would have played a role in making it.

Engaging in Private Consultations

While citizens are often aware of instances where researchers have worked with policymakers on projects, some of these consultations take place behind closed doors. In fact, governments are known to invite input from researchers before they announce big policy changes. The researchers get to give their feedback, suggest changes, and even help with the wording, all without informing the public of their role in the same.

They Embed in International Organizations

Research networks can take two main approaches in their quest to advocate for changes in policies.

In the first approach, they work with think tanks, NGOs, and advocacy groups to share their findings with the world. Through petitions, joint statements, and media campaigns, they are able to raise enough awareness to put pressure on governments, which allows them to have a role in policies.

In the second approach, they find ways to become a part of the government’s team so that they can influence changes from within the system. And they do this in the following ways:

Becoming Official Advisors

Many governments and international organizations have in-house advisory groups that comprise experts who are well-versed in the issues that these organizations address. As such, whenever these bodies encounter an obstacle, they rely on these great minds to come up with solutions. And their recommendations are not just suggestions, as is usually the case when researchers are approaching policymakers. Instead, their recommendations often become the official policies that these bodies communicate to the rest of the world.

Writing the Rules

Whenever countries are coming up with treaties and laws, such as international trade deals, they rely on experts who can use industry jargon to communicate where they stand on the matter. Researchers are often tasked with the fine print, such that they come up with the industry definitions as well as the procedures that all parties must follow. In many ways, researchers who are part of these projects set the rules for regional or global operations for years on end.

Creating Knowledge Bases

Governments and international organizations rely on official datasets as the baselines on which they develop policies. Examples include datasets like the map of global poverty or a database of tax havens, which are now considered the global standard on these issues. Researchers who work in these organizations are often afforded the opportunities to create these official knowledge bases, which inform other organizations on acceptable practices. This way, if another country wants to argue against a policy, it first has to disprove the original database, which leaves the researchers at an advantage.

Providing Stability

Policymakers come and go over the years, and this can result in policy changes over time. However, you find that when researchers are working inside the system, they are able to stay on for decades on end and are able to guide other policymakers on the organizational norms, which lowers the risk for radical changes that could disrupt a successful system.