We specialise in evidence-based advice on systemic, complex and strategic issues.
We work by request of European Commissioners, and our advice is primarily addressed to them. We hand over our reports in person to European Commissioners, and we organise workshops so that our experts can discuss the science directly with EU policymakers.
We respond to questions on any scientific subject, including on policy issues that the European Parliament and the Council consider to be of major importance. This means that our advice is used not only to inform policy documents such as legislative proposals, but also in other evidence-gathering processes that inform policy.
Since all our work is publicly available, our advice is also used by:
- the scientific community
- journalists
- civil society organisations
- individual countries conducting policy updates in certain areas of work
- science advisors and advisory bodies at many levels
- individual citizens
Different types of impact
The scientific advice we give has impacts in a number of areas, including:
- on policymaking in the EU, in individual countries and globally
- on research and scholarship
- on civil society, the media and public debate
Impacts vary considerably from topic to topic. Some important impacts are difficult to quantify, such as our role in public debate or the extent to which our work is used by individual policymakers. But other impacts can be systematically recorded and analysed.
Impacts we record systematically
Since 2020, we have recorded the following impacts systematically when possible:
- policy: references to our advice in policy documents and legislation, tracked by our staff and with EUR-LEX and Overton databases
- public coverage: discussions of our work in the media, websites and other publications, tracked with media monitoring and online searches
- academic citations: references to our work in published research, tracked with Scopus and Dimensions databases
- outreach activities: public participation in our events and other activities, recorded by our staff
Before 2020, we also recorded these impacts, but somewhat less systematically.
Factors affecting impact
The type and the extent of the impact of each piece of advice is affected by many factors, such as:
- the nature and timescale of the policy action which our advice informs (is it a regulation to be published next year, or a major strategic policy package to be developed over the coming political cycle?)
- the political level where decisions are made (is it a purely European issue, or does it also have global relevance, or relevance to individual countries, regions or cities?)
- the level of public engagement and controversy surrounding the issue
- its level of complexity
Some topics have a low number of measurable citations, but still shaped EU policy in a demonstrable way. Others, related to the topic of food for example, have been commonly cited by a wide range of stakeholders, showing a clear impact on public debate, although their impact on policy is more diffuse and difficult to pinpoint.
Our impact on science-for-policy
As well as informing evidence-based policymaking in the EU, part of our mission is to raise the quality of debate about science-for-policy issues, and to create and share best practices in science advice in partnership with other organisations in Europe and globally.
- Major conferences. Our science-for-policy conferences have become major events on the calendar of the science advice community in Europe. Attracting policymakers and science advisors from EU countries and the EU institutions, they also bring together hundreds of academics, representatives of science advice organisations at every level, early-career researchers, and third sector organisations.
- Science for Policy podcast. After more than 100 episodes, our podcast — focused exclusively on science-for-policy issues — features researchers, policymakers and practitioners at the cutting edge of scholarship and practice. It has a global listenership, about 50% of whom are in Europe.
- Global partnerships. We liaise with science and government organisations from around the world to share our work and exchange good practices. We have co-hosted events and co-presented at meetings with the UN, FAO, G7, UNEP, IBPES, OECD, and the UN Committee on World Food Security. We collaborate with more than 120 academies across Europe, as well as with science advice organisations in Europe, the US, Canada, and further afield.
- National-level science advice. We are often asked to contribute to discussions about how individual European countries and regions can enhance their own evidence-for-policy work. Since 2016, we have held discussions and collaborated with governments and researchers in Finland, Poland, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark and the Basque Country as these countries develop or tweak their own science advice mechanisms.