Academics learn to ‘sell’ science to politicians and policymakers

Better ‘selling’ knowledge and insights to politicians and policymakers. That, in short, is the goal of Tilburg University’s Stevin Fellowship Program. To this end, PhD candidate Alena van Geen of the Faculty of Law started working at the House of Representatives this month as the first fellow.

Corien Prins knows better than anyone that it is sometimes difficult to sell scientific insights to politicians and policymakers. Prins speaks from experience as a professor at Tilburg University, but especially as chairman of the government’s most important scientific advisory body, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). ‘For example, as a scientist you have to have competencies that you don’t easily use when conducting education and research,’ says Prins.

The Stevin Fellowship wants to change that. It is a program of the CoSPIRIT project, which stands for Competencies in Science for Policy – Insights and Reflection Initiative Tilburg. This project is funded by the Stevin Prize that Corien Prins received from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in 2023. The CoSPIRIT project aims to increase experience with, and insight into, the use of science in policy-making.

Because sometimes there is a fairly large gap between the skills that academics learn at the university and competencies that come in handy in administrative practice, such as being aware of the policy context, dealing with resistance or opposition, remaining ‘steadfast’ and speaking the language of politicians and policymakers.

Alena van Geen is now the first fellow at the Analysis and Research Service (DAO) of the House of Representatives. There she will gain experience with the way in which politicians and civil servants deal with scientific insights in policymaking. The next step is to learn how this scientific knowledge can be better ’translated’ and used in politics and policy.

The intention is that over the next five years, at least two researchers per year will enter into a fellowship in the practice of politics and policy.

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