The Research Council of UNA-Germany, the Centre for Global Cooperation Research Duisburg and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs Berlin were the co-hosts of the Conference ‘Enhancing Science-Policy Interfaces for the United Nations´ held in Berlin on September 15th 2017.
What are the most effective means of connecting science with policy? Many United Nations agencies are working with their own scientific advisory bodies to improve communication between science and policy. However, their policy evaluations and recommendations are not always taken into account. While many scientists are policy experts, they are not necessarily aware of the way policy works in policy-making bodies.
For this reason, The Research Council of UNA-Germany, the Centre for Global Cooperation Research Duisburg and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs Berlin organized the conference ‘Enhancing Science-Policy Interfaces for the United Nations´, which brought together members of science-policy advisory boards, government officials, and a range of practitioners and stakeholders to discuss research on the science-policy link and lessons learned from existing UN science-policy interfaces in various issue areas (sustainability/climate change, human rights/development, peace building/crisis prevention). The meeting explored ways of enhancing the institutional framework and political environment.
The Director of Cepei Philipp Schönrock, participated in a roundtable discussion to address National-level Interfaces – with a build-in link to the UN system. The session was chaired by Professor Dr. Norman of the Weiß of Potsdam University and the Research Council of UNA-Germany. Dr. Annika Hansen from the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) and Professor Dr. Dirk Messner, Director of the German Development Institute (DIE) /KHK and Co-Chair of the Science Platform Sustainability 2030, also joined the discussion.