Knowledge Brokers Research Articles

Type 1 Diabetes and Health Information Systems: Lessons from Denmark

One of the components of a health system as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) is data that the health system collects, generates, and uses to improve the health of its population. The aim of this paper is to describe key lessons from Denmark in planning, implementing, and using health system-generated data, using Type 1 diabetes as a tracer. A broad literature search was complemented with a review of grey literature, two series of interviews with Danish experts, and feedback from a presentation of these findings to two expert meetings. Denmark, through its unique identifier and data environment, enables the health system to collect a variety of data on Type 1 diabetes. Facilitators and challenges exist for data collection, data aggregation, use of data, communication of data and results, and intangible factors. For each of these, the environment, infrastructure, health system, and Danish society act as facilitators. Barriers relate to data being collected primarily for clinical and administrative purposes, and not necessarily for research, planning, policymaking, or advocacy. Fora are lacking to facilitate the communication and presentation of these results. An intangible element is the trust Danes have in their system, which is hard to replicate. As shown in the Danish setting, contextual factors cannot be negated in developing and implementing data-related solutions at a population level. The lessons from Denmark show that there is the need to conceive and act on all aspects of the data from its collection, aggregation, use, and communication. The last step of interaction between science and policy and practice requires a range of factors, including networks and knowledge brokers.

Planning nature-based solutions for water management and circularity in Ljubljana, Slovenia: Examining how urban practitioners navigate barriers and perceive institutional readiness

Nature-based Solutions (NBS) and the circular economy offer new opportunities for water management and water circularity in cities. In the process towards circular water NBS planning and implementation, urban practitioners such as urban planners and environmental/water engineers operate as facilitators and change agents due to their technical expertise. Moreover, from their professional standpoint, they can navigate barriers and influence key actors of institutional readiness of cities to uptake NBS. This study aims (i) to explore the barriers that urban professionals face towards the widespread mainstreaming and implementation of NBS for water management and circularity in Ljubljana, and (ii) to understand the perceived institutional readiness for planning NBS for water management and circularity in the city. Through 14 semi-structured expert interviews, and following a content discourse analysis, three overarching topics emerged: urban planning, urban design, and NBS implementation. The findings reveal the institutional readiness of Ljubljana to adopt and upscale solutions like NBS, although barriers still persist: misalignment of strategic goals, institutional fragmentation, lack of supportive policy and legal frameworks (procurement rules, urban design laws), and limited citizen involvement. New approaches and skilled knowledge brokers are required in order to change the narrative of water being perceived as a problem, and to mainstream NBS for water circularity across the city in the future.

The impact of knowledge brokering and role crafting on work engagement: a two-wave panel survey of older Japanese workers

PurposeThis study aimed to investigate the mechanisms of knowledge brokering and role crafting structures that promote the active engagement of older workers at work.Design/methodology/approachThe respondents were workers in Japan aged 55–64 years. A two-wave panel survey was conducted. The first and second survey waves included 1,527 and 1,467 respondents, respectively.FindingsThe results showed that knowledge brokering positively influenced work engagement directly and indirectly. In the three dimensions of role crafting, cognitive and task crafting had a positive effect on work engagement.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focused on older workers in Japan. Therefore, it is necessary to verify whether the same effect is observed in countries other than Japan or among younger workers.Practical implicationsOn an individual level, older workers should aim to keep acquiring new information inside and outside the organisation. On an organisational level, it is effective to increase opportunities for older workers to craft their work according to the socioemotional selectivity and selection optimisation and compensation theories.Originality/valueThis study reveals that knowledge brokering and cognitive crafting in role crafting have an important influence on the work engagement of older workers. Additionally, this study clarifies the impact of job crafting on older workers not only from the perspective of resource crafting to achieve person-job fit but also from the perspective of reframing perceptions through cognitive crafting in role crafting. These findings enable a clearer understanding of the relationship between role crafting and knowledge brokering, as well as the socioemotional selectivity and selection optimisation and compensation theories.

Farm advisors play a key role in integrating crop-livestock at the farm level: perceptions and experiences in Brazil and France

ABSTRACT Purpose Integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) can foster agroecological transitions. However, knowledge on how extension services influence such systems is still lacking. The manuscript analyzes ICLS advisors’ perceptions of the conditions toward recoupling crops and livestock at the farm level. Methodology/Approach We conducted and analyzed 20 semi-structured interviews with advisors and project managers currently working with ICLS in Brazil and France. Findings The results revealed the following advisors’ activities undertaken to support recoupling crop and livestock systems: i) gathering ICLS knowledge by building a network as a knowledge source, along with mobilizing and combining tools and skills, ii) communicating and facilitating arrangements between farmers and farmers´ groups, iii) supporting ICLS co-design by assisting farmers in setting goals and plans, and iv) assisting on-farm transitions by supporting implementation and monitoring. Practical implications This research highlights the key role of advisors in the transition toward the recoupling of crops and livestock at the farm level. ICLS advising could be improved and simplified with better-adapted tools, training to acquire knowledge, and skills specific to the ICLS context. Theoretical implications Systemic thinking, facilitation, communication, and mobilizing a broad network to exchange knowledge are key requirements for advising complex systems such as ICLS. This is a typical case of a ‘knowledge brokering’ approach in which advisors engage in systemic facilitation to encourage innovation adoption. Originality Our analysis provides promising insights into the specific advisor experiences in the transition towards adopting agroecological approaches, such as ICLS. This research opens avenues for future research to encourage ICLS adoption.

Flash flooding considerations aside: Knowledge brokering by the extension and advisory services to adapt a farming system to flash flooding

The development of agriculture sector and livelihood in Bangladesh are threatened by various climatic stressors, including flash flooding. Therefore, Extension and advisory services (EAS) need to navigate the knowledge landscape effectively to connect various farm actors and help secure the optimum benefits of knowledge and information for making rational decisions. However, little is known how EAS can perform this task to combat various effects of climate change. This study investigates the means of brokering knowledge by the EAS to help the farming sector adapt to flash flooding. The research was conducted in the north-eastern part of Bangladesh with 73 staff of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the largest public EAS in Bangladesh. The results showed that DAE primarily dealt with crop production-related information. However, EAS did not navigate knowledge and information about flash flooding, such as weather forecasting and crop-saving-embankments updates, among the farming actors. Moreover, they missed the broad utilization of internet-based-communication channels to rapidly navigate information and knowledge about possible flash flooding and its adaptation strategies. This article provides some policy implications to effectively support the adaptation of farming system to flash flooding through EAS.

Layered Logic

Organizations instantiate multiple institutional logics, which operate in a nested fashion across levels of analysis. A demand on organizations in the Global South from aid donors is to adopt new management systems. Management systems like kaizen, a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement, have an inherent logic. Kaizen’s adoption in Ethiopia, a postsocialist state, can be rendered ceremonial if its logic is not fully instantiated along with prevailing logics within recipient organizations. Our examination of the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation is an application of Besharov and Smith’s 2014 framework. We assume there is a high degree of centrality in this state-owned enterprise, because any managerial logic absorbed would have to adhere to the state logic. We conducted interviews, supplemented by archival data review, to illustrate what actors do to improve compatibility with state logic. Our findings suggest three institutional logics were instantiated, in order: the macro logic of developmental authoritarianism; micro logics of production order and social control; and the meso logic of knowledge brokerage. We propose the concept of layered logic, or ordering of institutional logics, each serving a distinct purpose yet fitted with the others.

The different roles of innovation intermediaries to generate value

The development of innovation management practices toward openness, societalgrand challenges and emerging technologies have changed the roles and supportingactivities of innovation intermediaries. Innovation intermediaries are considered to beorganizations that generate value to other institutions or societies within an innovationsystem. Despite the growth of innovation intermediary research in recent years, thereis still a lack of clarity about the different roles that intermediaries can play and the wayin which they generate value to the other institutions, industry and/or society. Thispaper reviews current research to identify contemporary roles of innovationintermediaries and explore the mechanisms they use to generate value. Through theuse of bibliographic coupling the paper presents a robust analysis of the intellectualstreams and key concepts underpinning innovation intermediary research. The papermakes a contribution to the ongoing debate by proposing a framework that explains thedifferent roles of innovation intermediaries (knowledge broker, knowledge transferenabler, orchestrator, and value generator) and the functions embedded within theroles at different levels of analysis, i.e., firm, industry, and national. The paperconcludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the framework anddetails key areas for future research.

Academic knowledge brokering in local policy spaces: negotiating and implementing dynamic idea types

Background: Academic researchers are occupying more varied roles as both knowledge producers and knowledge brokers in policymaking spaces beyond the national level. As the local arena presents different dimensions to the knowledge-policy-practice nexus, an assessment of the interaction of evidence and policy at this scale is warranted. Aims and objectives: This paper considers how two early career researchers acted within two different policymaking spaces at the local level to: bring new and synthesised evidence to decisionmakers; respond to evidence and research requests from a diverse group of local actors; and serve as a critical friend. Methods: Autoethnography. Findings: We find that early career positionality presents common issues for policy engagement across the cases, however, the contexts necessarily differ due to the power of specific actors, the internal and external interests at play, and the varied relationships confronting the academics. Deploying Smith’s four ‘idea types’ as a framework, we draw attention to the shifting roles academics need to play given the churn between institutionalised ideas, critical ideas, charismatic ideas and chameleonic ideas. Discussion and conclusion: Agency, triggers and structural rigidities are key to the movement between idea types. Future research based on interviews with local policymakers may help to further reveal how shifts between idea types come about.

Social and Knowledge Brokerage of Venture Capitalists and Co-patenting by Portflio Startups

Social and Knowledge Brokerage of Venture Capitalists and Co-patenting by Portflio Startups

Implementing and evaluating knowledge exchange: Insights from practitioners at the Canadian Forest Service

While there is a growing body of work on the barriers to knowledge exchange (KE) and the development of actionable science, what remains more elusive is an understanding of what strategies and conditions lead to effective KE, how it is operationalized, or how different practitioners define successful exchange of scientific knowledge. We interviewed nine KE practitioners at the Canadian Forest Service (CFS), a national agency, to understand: (1) who at CFS is involved in KE and how they perceive their roles, (2) the strategies for KE used in the CFS and its distribution in a KE typology framework, (3) how KE practitioners define a “successful” exchange of knowledge and KE bright spots, and (4) what conditions enable KE within the CFS. We identified CFS KE practitioners roles as knowledge brokers. They use a cyclical KE strategy that integrates concepts of co-design in operationalizing KE. The CFS KE practitioners engage in a variety of KE activities, but outreach was the most frequently cited. We suggest organizations work closely with intermediary individuals as they hold unique positions of building and maintaining relationships with knowledge users. They can also provide valuable insights in evaluating research impacts such as through contribution stories. The KE typology was a useful tool to inform decisions about KE strategies. Finally, our study emphasizes the need for organizations to adopt more qualitative evaluations to assess the full scope and impact of KE work, and recognizes the integral role of relationships and trust in all aspects of KE work.

Learning and knowledge transfer by humans and digital platforms: which tools best support the decision-making process?

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of technologies on the knowledge transfer process. In particular, the authors aim to analyze the topic of knowledge brokers and the relationship between broker and digital tools in the knowledge transfer process in the sport context. The study developed, therefore, aims to investigate the creating of this environment for knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing between man and machine, looking to improve the planning of technical sports projects of the clubs.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a qualitative approach aimed at analyzing how platforms and the players’ agents can be useful tools in the knowledge transfer process. The research was conducted through a survey with a structured questionnaire via e-mail to 64 managers at the head of clubs playing in the Italian Series B basketball in the 2021–2022 championship. The total number of questions administered is 21.FindingsThe results demonstrate how sports directors, for the construction of a technical sports project, in addition to learning off the pitch by interactions with media, fans, pressure management, leadership skills, positive attitude, tolerance, understanding of other opinions, background and cultures, see the athletes’ agents as the main stakeholder of the managers. The research resulted, by the clubs’ managers, in both formal learning and informal-type learning. Informal learning, by far the most frequently used and most important in the general learning process of executives, is identified in the use that executives make of information available on digital platforms and of the fiduciary relationships that management has with players’ agents.Originality/valueThe results demonstrate the valuable opportunities for executives, coaches, managers and clubs to strategically manage learning and knowledge sharing. Improving and managing knowledge-sharing strategies would help increase knowledge, not only of the sports directors but also of the entire club, thus improving the absolute quality of the game within the Italian basketball divisions. The authors have developed an innovative framework regarding the construction of a “typed sports technical project”, and the authors have identified a series of crucial phases capable of determining the creation of a new roster of athletes.

Bridging the old and the new in sustainability transitions: The role of transition intermediaries in facilitating urban experimentation

As experimentation with niche innovations confronts the old with the new, intermediaries are important to bridge innovative niches and established regimes. While there is a broad literature on experimentation to foster urban sustainability transitions, there is limited understanding of intermediaries acting as facilitators and translators. Previous studies of transition intermediaries in urban experimentation adopt a scaling-centric focus, which rests on the assumption that novelty emerges within niches and impacts regimes through processes of scaling-up. By contrast, this study shifts towards a reconfiguration perspective to move beyond the niche-regime dichotomy and provide a more fine-grained conception of how novelty emerges in-between niches and regimes, as well as through within-regime dynamics. This is to build a dialogue between the literature on urban experimentation and the literature on intermediaries in sustainability transitions. It is to shed light on the ambigious and heterogeneous nature of regime actors: they do not only reproduce path dependencies, but can also facilitate path creation. It implies a shift from a meso- towards a micro-level of analysis, which reveals the variety of intermediaries and their interactions. The study provides an empirical exploration of niche and regime intermediaries in local experimentation by analysing the transdisciplinary research project “Dresden – City of the Future: Empowering Citizens, Transforming Cities!”. The qualitative case study follows an explorative approach, which provides empirical insights on intermediaries’ activities that could not be anticipated during the initial research design. The interaction between niche and regime intermediaries shows the importance of recognising the dialectic nature of change from below and change from above. While niche intermediaries acted more as visionaries, knowledge brokers and advocates of change, regime intermediaries acted more as guides and facilitators, creating a shared institutional infrastructure and coordinating local-level activities. It reveals the (dis)empowering dynamics that underlie niche-regime interaction but also power struggles regime intermediaries are confronted with. These findings provide insights for governance strategies to strengthen the position of transition intermediaries. They suggest that the work of intermediaries should no longer be hidden and informal but recognised as an essential part of transition governance. A variety of both niche and regime intermediaries should be fostered to build interfaces between niches and regimes, and bring about reconfiguration.

Knowledge Broker Sebagai Mediasi: Merancang Perilaku Inovasi Dalam Mendukung Transformasi Digital Pada Ukm Di Sidoarjo

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have an important role for the economy of a country in order to increase productivity, competition and be able to open up business opportunities and create job opportunities. The phenomenon that occurs in the UKM environment in Sidoarjo is that UKM actors only focus more on tangible assets so they pay less attention to intangible assets. The purpose of this study is to find out the role and implementation of knowledge brokers to design innovative behavior in supporting digital transformation for SMEs in Sidoarjo. The research method uses the Field Research approach using qualitative research types. The data collection technique uses triangulation which consists of documentation, interviews, observation and surveys as well as recording archives. The results of the study explain the implementation of knowledge brokers to design innovative behavior in supporting digital transformation in SMEs in Sidoarjo, which is still limited to Knowledge sharing where knowledge brokers are structured and designed as a bridge in providing information and consulting carried out by universities and organizational partners only in training activities and accompaniment. The role of knowledge brokers is very important in implementing strategies in utilizing company-owned resources to encourage digital transformation in SMEs, which can utilize digital technology to mediate interactions between stakeholders and SMEs who need capital in their businesses. expand business with investors who will invest to get a return on investment. This interaction increases digital literacy for SMEs and enhances the process of sharing and disseminating knowledge between organizations.

Testing Multiple Methods to Effectively Promote Use of a Knowledge Portal to Health Policy Makers: Quasi-Experimental Evaluation.

Health policy makers and advocates increasingly utilize online resources for policy-relevant knowledge. Knowledge brokering is one potential mechanism to encourage the use of research evidence in policy making, but the mechanisms of knowledge brokerage in online spaces are understudied. This work looks at knowledge brokerage through the launch of Project ASPEN, an online knowledge portal developed in response to a New Jersey legislative act that established a pilot program for adolescent depression screening for young adults in grades 7-12. This study compares the ability to drive policy brief downloads by policy makers and advocates from the Project ASPEN knowledge portal using a variety of online methods to promote the knowledge portal. The knowledge portal was launched on February 1, 2022, and a Google Ad campaign was run between February 27, 2022, and March 26, 2022. Subsequently, a targeted social media campaign, an email campaign, and tailored research presentations were used to promote the website. Promotional activities ended on May 31, 2022. Website analytics were used to track a variety of actions including new users coming to the website, page views, and policy brief downloads. Statistical analysis was used to assess the efficacy of different approaches. The campaign generated 2837 unique user visits to the knowledge portal and 4713 page views. In addition, the campaign generated 6.5 policy web page views/day and 0.7 policy brief downloads/day compared with 1.8 views/day and 0.5 downloads/day in the month following the campaign. The rate of policy brief page view conversions was significantly higher for Google Ads compared with other channels such as email (16.0 vs 5.4; P<.001) and tailored research presentations (16.0 vs 0.8; P<.001). The download conversion rate for Google Ads was significantly higher compared with social media (1.2 vs 0.1; P<.001) and knowledge brokering activities (1.2 vs 0.2; P<.001). By contrast, the download conversion rate for the email campaign was significantly higher than that for social media (1.0 vs 0.1; P<.001) and tailored research presentations (1.0 vs 0.2; P<.001). While Google Ads for this campaign cost an average of US $2.09 per click, the cost per conversion was US $11 per conversion to drive targeted policy web page views and US $147 per conversion to drive policy brief downloads. While other approaches drove less traffic, those approaches were more targeted and cost-effective. Four tactics were tested to drive user engagement with policy briefs on the Project ASPEN knowledge portal. Google Ads was shown to be effective in driving a high volume of policy web page views but was ineffective in terms of relative costs. More targeted approaches such as email campaigns and tailored research presentations given to policy makers and advocates to promote the use of research evidence on the knowledge portal website are likely to be more effective when balancing goals and cost-effectiveness.

Nexus of knowledge management between industry and academia via third space hybridity and career attitudes

This paper aims to explore the relationship between Protean Career Attitude, Boundaryless Career Attitude and Task and Contextual Performance mediated by Knowledge Management (KM). In this paper, KM is taken as a boundary process view, namely, Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Integration and Knowledge Transformation. KM is taken as a mediator and the perspective of Third Space Hybridity and Knowledge Brokers have been tested. The role of boundary spanners has been investigated by empirically examining 104 employees teaching as adjunct faculty along with working in their respective fields in Karachi, Pakistan. These visiting faculties are performing the role of Boundary Spanners or Artists-Academic (Lam, 2017) and work using the knowledge from academia and organizations. A measurement model and Structural Equation Model using Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique have been applied using SMART-PLS software to test the hypotheses. While the bootstrapping method has been applied to test the mediation. The results showed that Protean Career Attitudes play a significant role in effecting both Task Performance and Contextual Performance through KM. Specifically, self-driven values (sub-dimension of Protean Career Attitudes) effect the relationship. Task Performance has a stronger effect than Contextual performance. This study discusses how the model works across different boundaries and how sharing, integration and transformation of knowledge occurs. This study will help top management in different organizations to understand the role of these boundary spanners and utilize them in the development of new products and services. The management needs to identify such individuals as they are better suited to take up the role of entrepreneurs in their organizations.

Enhancing knowledge brokerage drivers for dynamic capabilities: the effects on sustainable supply chain ecosystem

PurposeSustainable development involves companies on an individual, organizational and social level requiring the adoption of business models or innovations capable of privileging the co-creation of mutual value with a view to sustainability. From an organizational perspective, this paper aims to show that knowledge brokers, by making explicit their roles as mediators of interactions and acting on dynamic capabilities (DCs), can generate a proactive approach to the three dimensions of sustainability and specifically allows capabilities to positively impact the propensity toward sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices.Design/methodology/approachThis study offers an empirical analysis of 200 companies in the agro-food sector participating in a knowledge brokerage system activated by protection consortia. It uses a multiple regression technique that allows for observing relationships between DCs and SSCM.FindingsAbsorptive, adaptive and innovative capabilities, when understood and brokered, have a positive and direct impact on the SSCM.Originality/valueAs there have rarely been frameworks developed that correlate knowledge brokerage, DCs and sustainability, this paper suggests that DCs, when adequately valued by the knowledge broker, allow for identifying the requirements of the various stakeholders regarding sustainability and changes in market scenarios to generate sustainability practices along the supply chain.

Fostering an Enabling Environment for Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture and Food Systems in Nigeria.

Although recommendations exist for making agriculture and food systems nutrition sensitive, guidance about how to successfully operationalize these recommendations within national institutions is limited. Over the 13 years from 2010 to 2023, there were several undertakings to strengthen the enabling environment for sustainable nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) and food systems in Nigeria. Some studies were also conducted over the period to foster better understanding of the national enabling environment and facilitate effective actions. This article documents successes and failures from Nigeria's experiences by reflecting on critical developments, events, policies, and programmes on Nigeria's journey toward advancing nutrition through agriculture and food systems; as well as findings from conducted studies. Successes include the existence of a Nutrition and Food Safety Division in the Ministry of Agriculture and an approval for a Nutrition Department, existence of an agriculture sector nutrition strategy, increased private sector engagement and commitment to nutrition-sensitive food systems, and increased funding for nutrition in the agriculture sector. Challenges especially remain for scaling up strategic, operational, and delivery capacity of both organizations and individuals involved in advancing NSA and food systems. Lessons learned include-institutionalizing NSA and food systems takes time; knowledge brokering is indispensable and requires several collaborating entities and stakeholders; and approaches used should be suited to available government capacity. More than a decade of efforts targeting different enabling environment factors has resulted in greater political commitment for nutrition within the agriculture sector and an improved enabling environment for NSA and food systems.

Knowledge brokers within the multiple streams framework: The science-policy interface for livestock and climate change discussions in Kenya

Livestock production is affected by climate change, but also contributes to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions. This leads to ambiguity in how livestock are framed in climate and development policy processes. We use the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) to investigate the role of knowledge brokers in Kenyan livestock and climate change policy processes. We analyse how knowledge brokers deal with ambiguity from different problem and response framings within science-policy interfaces using the case of a project that seeks to inform Kenyan policies relevant to livestock and climate change. We identify ambiguity within the problem stream where actors recognise adaptation and mitigation as dual challenges of livestock and climate change. This ambiguity creates tension between actors but can be strategically deployed to help match the problem and policy streams. Actors use the terms ‘climate smart’ and ‘co-benefits’ to link the dual adaptation and mitigation needs. In the political stream, nationally defined priorities and external funding possibilities influence the political will and motivation to adopt identified response options. There are opportunities for knowledge brokers to address the ambiguities and translate knowledge during windows of opportunity when the streams are being coupled, but challenges exist, resulting in slow and inadequate development of policies. This paper makes two contributions to the MSF literature. First, we further refine the concept of knowledge brokers and establish their role across all three streams. Second, we apply the MSF in a lower income country and demonstrate that international organizations must be among the actors considered.

Instruments of lesson-drawing: comparing the knowledge brokerage of the OECD and the World Bank

ABSTRACT This study examines the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank, the two largest global actors in the education sector, in their capacity as knowledge brokers. For these actors, positioning themselves between research and policy and circulating their versions of evidence has become a popular governance instrument to amplify their impact at the national level. To compare the strategies and targets of the OECD and the World Bank, we analyze three publication series: the OECD’s Education Policy Outlook and Reviews of National Policies for Education and the World Bank’s Systems Approach for Better Education reports. The results reveal significant differences between the OECD’s and the World Bank’s approaches to producing evidence and brokering knowledge. We interpret the differences against the backdrop of the idiosyncrasies of the two organizations: The World Bank sees itself as a transnational actor, and its knowledge production and brokerage are highly decontextualized transcending national experiences. By contrast, the OECD is an intergovernmental organization that views itself as a facilitator of cross-national peer exchange. Situating the findings within the broader framework of the global–national nexus, we argue that the World Bank’s approach promotes vertical policy learning, while the OECD’s approach pursues horizontal policy learning.

The ivory tower of academia in the era of climate change: European scientists’ engagement in science popularization related to single-use plastics

Single-use plastics (SUPs) pose a major threat to the environment and public health due to their persistent popularity, exponential growth, and skeptical predictions regarding disposal methods. However, despite the declared importance of this topic in the scientific community, related science popularization efforts remain superficial. Here, we present a novel approach integrating the circular economy (CE) with the quintuple helix model to reveal interlinkages between academics, CE stakeholders and the public to assess how scientists face their responsibility for knowledge brokerage and popularization. SUP related researchers from four EU countries (Germany, France, Italy, and Poland) participated in a survey, followed by a complementary focus group. Most respondents considered science popularization as very or extremely important, and primarily to be carried out by scientists and journalists. The most popular channels were workshops, press, social media, while target audiences included mainly consumers, policy makers and local authorities. Despite the acknowledgment of the scientific mission (social impact, care for nature), popularization activities are discouraged by lack of time and improper research evaluation. Consumers' decisions are closely linked to environmental awareness which cannot be raised based on often false, easily accessible viral news. Involving the latter in science popularization requires systemic changes that, on the one hand, encourage researchers to leave their ivory towers (e.g., by including popularization achievements into research evaluation) and, on the other hand, provide them with relevant skills. This will hopefully increase trust in science among the public, and ultimately lead to a more rational use of plastics..