Guided Tours of Research Sites as a Policy Engagement Format

Description

Key features in a nutshell

• guided tours are a great interactive experience: scientists can present their research and policymakers can ask questions
• guided tours are an easy to organise format allowing for the involvement of scientists who are usually not in touch with policymakers and vice versa
• the research sites or labs must allow for a high degree of visualisation of research issues
• the scientists must communicate clearly and concisely and allow for questions from the policymakers

How does the format work?

Guided tours of research sites provide great opportunities for policymakers to gain better understanding of research activities and their possible applications. Researchers can demonstrate machines or applications and thus not only explain underlying mechanisms but also elaborate on possible applications which are of relevance to policymakers.

A single researcher can guide policymakers through a lab or other research site. Alternatively, the policymakers might move from station to station, which are explained by different researchers at the respective station. Guided tours can create a lasting impact because they activate various senses.

Policymakers listen to the information provided by the scientists while simultaneously seeing, touching, or even smelling objects or applications. Visits allow scientists to present their current research. Since policymakers can ask scientists questions and vice versa, visits of research sites are a great interactive experience for both sides.

Policymakers can visit research sites on an individual basis, in small or larger groups. Groups of policymakers can include participants from a single or various policymaking institutions. The duration of guided tours can vary between an hour or several hours depending on the size of the research site, the number of stations, and the time the scientists want to spend preparing and conducting the guided tours. Guided tours of research sites can be organised as stand-alone events or as parts of conferences, workshops, or other events that allow the participants to interact.

The scientists must communicate clearly and concisely and leave enough time for questions from the policymakers. Early career researchers or senior scientists can conduct guided tours.

The research sites should allow for a high degree of visualisation. For example, while scientists might conduct groundbreaking research on health issues in a lab, showing rows of test tubes and petri dishes might not add value to the transfer of knowledge via formats like Powerpoint presentations or lectures. Guided tours through labs, where policymaker see how robots move or where they can use virtual-reality-headsets, may, however, help them better understand the potentials and challenges of technological innovations.

Tasks and resources

Scientists

Content. Researchers need to prepare brief presentations for the objects and applications they would like to show. If various scientists are involved in the guided tour, coordination will be needed between the researchers. Depending on the structure of the tour, the number of participants, and the background of the participant, the guides may ask the policymakers before the tour regarding the issues they are most interested in and structure the tour accordingly.

Organisational issues. Scientists may also have to rearrange or even clean up the objects they would like to present. The scientists must also assess whether the scientists at the research sites can work as usual or whether their work will be interrupted during the guided tour.

Resources in terms of time. Conducting guided tours should not take more than a couple of hours. If the scientists never prepared presentations on the objects and applications they want to show to the policymakers, preparing the presentations to an outside audience can take several hours and a day or two. But once scientists have prepared the presentations and the course of the tour, replicating the exercise the next time will take less time.

If the researchers opt to evaluate the format, they will have to prepare an evaluation sheet which has to be sent to the policymakers after the tour.

Resources in terms of funding. Possible items include catering, reimbursement of travel costs for policymakers, advertisement of the event, or compensation for participating researchers.

Knowledge exchange managers and research managers

Knowledge exchange managers can provide crucial support to researchers by identifying policymakers and inviting policymakers. Knowledge exchange managers can follow current policy developments to brief scientists about topics of great interest to policymakers.

In addition, knowledge exchange managers can provide support by designing leaflets and sharepics, prepare social media posts and press releases, organise catering (if needed), help the guests from policymaking institutions with directions, and deal with administrative issues like granting access to research sites to guests and following safety protocols.

Knowledge exchange managers should provide a list of the policymakers attending the guided tours to the scientists. They can write follow-up mails to both policymakers and scientists to stay in touch after the guided tours.

Knowledge exchange officers can disseminate evaluation sheets to the policymakers and scientists or conduct feedback-calls with them.

Required resources at a glance

About the author

Tome Sandevski heads the policy engagement unit at Goethe University Frankfurt, where he coordinates the joint policy engagement projects of the Rhine-Main Universities: Goethe University Frankfurt, Technical University Darmstadt, and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.