This is an archived page from the 2014 conference

Building Capacity for Effective Science Advice: Current Needs and Opportunities

The Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, New Zealand, and the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) of University College London would like to thank panelists and participants who took part in the inaugural capacity building workshop for science advice to governemnts, held in Auckland on August 30 and September 1 2014.

The workshop was aimed at developing effective science advisory systems for building the capacity of individuals and institutions to fulfil a diverse range of advisory requirements. The panel and roundtable events scoped the capacity-building needs across a range of cultural and political contexts, and governance scales (local through transnational). These events provided an opportunity for those involved in the field of science advice to exchange ideas on identified gaps and promising practices in order to begin thinking formally about the design and delivery of interventions that begin to fill these needs. Discussion focused on a variety of potential interventions such as arrangements for sharing institutional best practices; professional development programmes and communities of practice; and university education for the next generation of policy-conversant scientists and science-savvy policy professionals.

Taken together or as separate events, the panel and the roundtable have begun the scoping process for the systemic and operational issues that are common across jurisdictions in capacity building for better science-based development of public policy. A report from the roundtable will provide the basis for a framework that will be made publically available to help civil services, universities and other training environments to structure their actions toward increased capacity at multiple levels within science advisory systems. Over the longer term, themes generated at the roundtable will be further developed through research, and further resource material on capacity building will be made available by the collaborating partners.

It is expected that capacity building will form the theme of a larger workshop in the coming months, so check back for details.