Christine Leuenberger, Department of Science & Technology

Abstract: Calls for academics to make themselves more relevant to policy-making have increasingly reverberated across academia and the government. Underlying this call is the assumption that more scientists in the government would assure more evidence-based policy-making and improve diplomatic relations. This paper is based on an ethnographic emersion as a science fellow within federal policy-making agencies. It examines the cultural gaps between academics and policy-makers; how a better understanding of the institutional and organizational structures and constraints of the two professions would make calls for cross-professional engagements more effective; how political cycles dictate interest in science; and how, when, and where in the political cycles academic expertise may be impactful.