Get Started, Keep Learning! A Facilitator’s Approach to Policy Engagement Training

Key features in a nutshell

• Hands-on exercises beat slide decks: Participants gain a far deeper understanding of policymaking by analyzing real-world policy documents, organizational charts, and invitation pitches rather than consuming lectures passively
• Teach competencies while considering capacities: Training builds the competencies needed for effective policy engagement, but capacities – time, funding, institutional access to policymakers, support structures – determine whether those competencies can actually be applied; there is no one-size-fits-all: effective policy engagement means matching formats and channels to participants’ resources and motivation.
• “Get started, keep learning!” is the key message for the training: Participants should not wait to engage with policymakers until they have become policy experts themselves or mastered every possible format; by the end of the training, they need the confidence and skills to get started, knowing they will keep learning along the way.
• Policymaker voices are essential: Having Members of Parliament or their staff, policy professionals from ministries, EU institutions, or international organizations talk about their tasks, routines, and experiences is invaluable; invite policymakers to join sessions whenever possible.

How does the format work?

Facilitating 33 workshops since 2019 – ranging from 60-minute crash courses to two-day intensive retreats – has been an ongoing process of practice, feedback, and refinement. Here are the core insights gained from continuously evolving these sessions.

From Slide Heavy to Hands-On (Practicing What We Preach)

In early workshops, a recurring piece of feedback was that I covered too many slides at too fast a pace. This was an eye-opener: while I was advising researchers to deliver concise key messages rather than overwhelming policymakers with information, my own slide decks were doing the exact opposite.

The Shift: I radically reduced the presentation slides in favor of active learning; today, participants work through various exercises (e.g., readability checks of policy briefs, audience mapping, crafting elevator pitches, analyzing organizational charts).

Pre-Workshop Preparation: Optional pre-workshop exercises (15–45 min) are offered to help participants get the maximum value out of the live session.

Result: Hands-on exercises are consistently rated highly since they help participants understand the importance of targeted communication and the constraints under which policymakers operate – and learning through doing tends to stick better than learning through listening.

Importance of capacities: In theory, researchers have many ways to engage with policymakers. In practice, capacities – time, funding, institutional access, support structures – determine which of these are realistic. A senior professor with a seat on an expert body, support by a dedicated secretariat, and institutional access has far more options than a doctoral researcher who is not yet known to policymakers and struggles to cover travel costs to a policy event in the capital.

The Shift: Rather than presenting a “one-size-fits-all” menu of engagement formats, the training actively addresses structural barriers. Facilitators must help participants identify time-efficient formats tailored to their specific career stage and available resources.

Empowering Early Action: I make clear that my workshops are not academic introductions to policymaking. Participants do not need to become policy experts nor master every detail of drafting policy briefs or organizing policy events.

The Shift: What they need is enough understanding to get started sooner rather than later. They leave with checklists covering what to address next, and with the confidence to begin engaging – knowing that further learning will come with practice.

Involving policymakers: Incorporating guests from ministries, the European Commission, international organizations, or parliaments (usually staffers) for a 1-to-2-hour concluding Q&A session has proven to be very effective.

The Shift: Participants consistently find it valuable to hear directly about policymakers’ constraints, routines, and expertise needs. The policymakers involved are typically approachable and encourage participants to reach out proactively. In in-person workshops, they are usually invited to lunch as well, which further supports informal exchange and networking.

Tasks and resources: Brief description of the tasks and resources needed by scientists, knowledge exchange officers/research managers and policymakers

Workshop facilitators

While individual workshops run between 60 minutes and two days, developing their structure and content has taken several months in total over the years. After each session, I review participant feedback and update the relevant material, including repeated revisions to the slide decks. Cutting slides was painful but proved essential.

Researchers and research managers as participants in workshops

Participants are informed in advance that the workshop involves hands-on exercises, including optional preparatory ones. Most enjoy the exercises and group discussions, which keep the sessions lively. Participants typically spend between two hours and two days in the workshop.

Policymakers

Policymakers join for a single 1–2-hour session. In in-person workshops, they are also invited to lunch – a valuable opportunity to connect with the researchers and research managers.

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