As Scientists and Citizens

Abstract

Many academics are reluctant to enter policy-making forums. Those who do so are an important and intriguing minority. This study takes a close look at faculty active in advisory mechanisms to government and reveals them to be individuals whose careers include considerable experience outside academia, whose time commitments on c ampus are highly varied, and whose attitudes are supportive of university service to gov ernment. Most of the expert advisers also engage in political activities as citizens, and the relationship of participation in these dual modes poses questions for future research.

The dos and don’ts of influencing policy: a systematic review of advice to academics

“…We included 86 academic and non-academic publications in this review (see Table 1 for an overview). Although we found reports dating back to the 1950s on how governments and presidents (predominantly UK/US) do or do not use scientific advisors (Marshall, 1980;Bondi, 1982;Mayer, 1982;Lepkowski, 1984;Koshland Jr. et al, 1988;Sy, 1989;Krige, 1990;Srinivasan, 2000) and committees (Sapolsky, 1968;Wolfle, 1968;Editorial, 1972;Walsh, 1973;Nichols, 1988;Young and Jones, 1994;Lawler, 1997;Masood, 1999;Morgan et al, 2001;Oakley et al, 2003;Allen et al 2012). The earliest publication included was from 1971 (Aurum, 1971).…”