Just recently, (June 2021), ScienceWorks has founded a network to stimulate interactions between research and policymakers, and named it STEPPS: Strengthening and Transferring Evidence in Policy and Politics Society. STEPPS will deliver a global – non-governmental - network to help sharing tools that lead to evidence-informed policy, and improve them where possible. The goal is to share these tools both internationally and on national or local level. STEPPS assembles policymakers, policy evaluators, academia, data scientists, knowledge mobilisers and governmental and parliamentary strategists. These parties are brought together to foster an international dialogue on building and disseminating evidence to stimulate the effectiveness of policies.
STEPPS will organize interaction in three ways:
- A network of individual and institutional members, able to exchange information via platforms
- International conferences to share best practices and generate momentum
- Trainings and courses
Earlier, in 2015, ScienceWorks has initiated an international network to support the interaction between science and society:
The Network for Advancing and Evaluation of the Societal Impact of Science was founded in 2015, and brings together experts around the theme of measuring and demonstrating the societal impact of scientific research. University strategists, research funders, science evaluators and research managers from around the world exchange knowledge and expertise about the different ways to demonstrate societal impact and systems to support this impact.
AESIS organises annually the conference Impact of Science, but for example also a course on integrating societal impact in a research strategy. More information is available on the website: www.aesisnet.com.