Guidelines on Science-Policy Engagement

The guidelines aim to provide guidance through best practices for members of ETH Zurich who are engaged or plan to engage at the interface between science with policy. For this purpose, the guidelines

• declare explicit support for science-policy engagement at ETH Zurich;
• define guiding principles;
• highlight different roles in science-policy engagement;
• raise awareness of potential risks associated with this engagement;
• list relevant support units at ETH Zurich.

Strategic context

ETH Zurich serves society through its teaching, research, and knowledge transfer. Science-policy engagement, as an important part of knowledge transfer, is strategically and operationally supported by ETH Zurich through the Vice Presidency for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations.

Political demand

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, politicians and administrators have taken steps to better utilize scientific insights. Effective collaboration between politics, public administration and science requires mutual understanding and guidance about the different roles of researchers and policymakers.

Practical benefits

The guidelines provide support and guidance to members of ETH Zurich who are involved or plan to engage at the interface between science and policy. They also offer an overview of the units available at ETH Zurich that can assist researchers with questions or concerns related to science-policy engagement.

To make the guidelines more tangible, the following subpage presents selected articles alongside examples.

• Schweizerischer Wissenschaftsrat. (2022). Wissenschaftliche Politikberatung in Krisenzeiten. external page https://www.wissenschaftsrat.ch/images/stories/pdf/de/SWR_2022_Wissenschaftliche_Politikberatung.pdf
• Gluckman, P. (2014). Policy: The art of science advice to government. Nature, 507, 163-165. external page https://doi.org/10.1038/507163a.
• Pielke, R. A. (2007). Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics. Cambridge University Press.
• Ammann O., Farman D., Grüninger S., Maier S., Wyss R. (2023). Wer wird gehört? Wis- senschafter:innen in den Anhörungen der parlamentarischen Sachbereichskommissionen. Swiss Academies Communications, 18 (3). external page https://api.swiss-academies.ch/site/assets/files/119266/de_whogetsheard_fur_web.pdf
• Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force (2022). Abschlussbericht der Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force (ncs-tf). external page https://sciencetaskforce.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/AbschlussberichtSTF29Mar2022-DE.pdf