Determining the impact of research in policy-making contexts is a challenging task, a fact which recent literature highlights. This blog post surveys several publications that address this subject. We begin with Sandra Nutley, Isabel Walter, and Huw Davies, who draw attention to important issues regarding measurement of the impact of research. They point out, for […]
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Iteration and Innovation: Using the Right Models for Improving the Use of Research in Policy and Practice
This post briefly describes several models for research-policy and research-practice relationships, and then explores how two models– the interactive model and the context, evidence, and links model– best capture the complexities inherent in the use of climate change research in policy and practice. This post argues that models that promote the understanding of context, the […]
Social Networks and News Media: Impact on Information and Policy Development
The recent rise of social media and the growing presence of news media in the realm of public policy and decision making have created a new dynamic: policy makers are now sitting alongside the general population. In this new era of policy making, scientists, policy makers, and the general population all collaborate on policy issues […]
EIUI Team Publishes Bibliography of Publications of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, the Environmental Information: Use and Influence Research team has published Celebrating 25 Years of Knowledge on the Gulf. A Bibliography of Publications of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment. This comprehensive bibliography of over […]
Communication of Research Information: Barriers and Enablers
Evidence-based policy making depends on effective communication of scientific and social science research-based information. Several barriers that bear on the ability to effectively communicate information are identified in the literature. Similarly, several enablers are described that can create more effective communication. Ultimately, enablers and barriers are two sides of the same coin. Many of enablers […]
The Importance of Public Consultations in Policy Making
Public consultations are a key feature of effective policy making. This blog post analyzes four publications on the topic of public consultations with regard to key findings, limitations, and best practices. The four publications vary in their focus: a book chapter by Leslie Pal provides the theoretical underpinnings of public consultations (Pal, 2010), a document […]
“Does Information Matter?” – Special Session at Coastal Zone Canada 2014 Conference presented by EIUI
The Environmental Information: Use and Influence research initiative (EIUI) will present a special session entitled “Does Information Matter? A Critical Question for the Future of Coastal Zone Management” at the 2014 Coastal Zone Canada conference to be held in Halifax on 15-19 June 2014. This session will offer interdisciplinary perspectives on the challenges of communicating […]
Communication of Research Information: Information Pathways and Models
Research-based information flows from a wide variety of sources, including dissertations, websites, peer-reviewed journals, policy briefings, or conference workshops, (Nutley, Walker & Davies, 2007). The information chain is a conceptual framework that attempts to demonstrate the transfer of this information. This framework models the various pathways information follows as it proceeds from the source to […]
What is the science-policy interface?
The science-policy interface is the complex intersection between science and policy, which has been explained as “a socially constructed and negotiated ‘boundary’ between two social groups; the scientific and policy communities” (Bremer & Glavociv, 2013, p.45), or as “institutional arrangements that reflect cognitive models and provide normative structures, rights, rules and procedures that define and […]
Fifth Canadian Science Policy Conference, Toronto, November 2013 – Some Major Messages
Peter Wells represented the EIUI research initiative at the Fifth Canadian Science Policy Conference on the theme “Science Next: Incubating Innovation and Ingenuity,” which was held in Toronto in November 2013. The primary messages from the sessions he attended on science policy (nuts and bolts), science and technology policy conundrums, the policy solitudes, ocean research […]