INGSA Horizon Series - Joanna Chataway - Re-imagining research excellence & cultures of policymaking

Video EIGHT in INGSA's 2021 Horizon Series of interviews with leading global experts at the science/society/policy interface.

Prof Joanna Chataway is Head of Department of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) at University College London. She is also Principal Investigator for the International Public Policy Observatory (IPPO) focusing on fast, practical synthesis of knowledge of direct relevance to policymakers.

She talks about the changing cultures of policymaking, rethinking the definition of research excellence, and the challenges of being a science-for-policy practitioner at the coalface.

For more, follow @INGSciAdvice on Twitter or check out #INGSAHorizon​​​

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What is a devolved nation? At minute 19:37 to 20:32 Wales, Scotland and Ireland are identified as devolved nations.

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This was one important conclusion of this 30 minute interview:

Interviewer: How do you see the boundary work at this stage evolving in response to the needs of decision makers but also in response to the long-term global challenges? How does what we are doing effect the next generation of researchers?

Joanna: "We have to train people to do high quality, interdisciplinary, trans-disciplinary policy relevant research and that isn’t mainstream at all in the way we educate. We need a problem-solving approach to higher education. That is one of the bigger lessons to take away. The boundaries themselves are shifting as well as the ways we are thinking about spanning those boundaries. All sorts of experiments are going on around science advise and shadow science advise organizations being set up. Of course, we need to go on doing high quality disciplinary based stuff. But I do believe in the need not just to produce but to be able to use data and innovations."