Format: Role-Playing Game for Researchers | Policymakers | Media

Introduction: What is the format about?

– A role-playing game puts participants in the situation of making decisions in a political context

– The idea is to put researchers, policymakers, and sometimes representatives of civil society or media in a situation to see how science can (or cannot) influence policy choices

How does the format work?

An idea for a role-playing game where researchers and policymakers swap roles for a day was conceived to better understand the real dynamics between research and policymaking.

Faced with challenges such as a health crisis, an environmental disaster, or a sensitive energy issue, participants can learn to navigate between the need to use scientific data and economic, social, and political pressure.

The aim is to experience the complexity of the dialogue between science and policy and to better understand the challenges of decision making in a fictional situation.

Participants are assigned different roles than their own in real life:

either as researchers whose role is to analyze data and advise policymakers by providing them with clear and usable recommendations

or policymakers whose role is to make choices based on scientific advice as well as on economic, social, and media concerns.

Media and civil society actors (depending on the version of the game) add a level of complexity by influencing public opinion and exerting pressure on decision makers.

The game takes place in several stages, with new information being introduced gradually, requiring participants to adjust their strategies. It highlights the challenges of communication between researchers and policymakers, managing uncertainty, and the necessary compromises in decision making.

Challenges and how to address them

Of course, there are many challenges to this complex role-playing game.

Our approach involves a service provider who creates role-playing scenarios from a sociological perspective to help participants understand each other’s roles and responsibilities.   But preparing the game still requires a significant amount of work, particularly the preparation of a consistent scenario and situations that are appropriate for the setting without being too realistic, so as to create arguments.

Balance management: the different theatrical acts must be stimulating, and the scenes played by the actors must maintain the interest of the different participants who do not know each other.

At the same time, rather than exacerbating areas of conflict, this role-playing game should teach its participants how, for example, a politician plays the researcher and vice versa.

Tasks and resources

This role-playing game is run by an external partner that handles the learning side of role-playing. Setting up a role-playing game on this scale is, however, a significant organizational task for the knowledge officers.

Furthermore, to ensure the game runs smoothly and that it has the desired effect, it is important not to reveal too much about the day and learning expectations. It is therefore challenging to get researchers and policymakers to set aside time for this.

Examples

Scientific-Political Cooperation Workshops Day (ACooSP) September 12, 2023, in Dijon, organized by the University of Burgundy Franche-Comté in partnership with INGSA.

Sources and further reading

The International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) regularly offers this type of workshop to help researchers and decision-makers work better together.

Do you want to know more about the policy engagement toolkit?

Do you want to share your experience in policy engagement? Do you think about contributing to the policy engagement toolkit? Feel free to contact Tome Sandevski via science-policy@pvw.uni-frankfurt.de