Mobilising Knowledge, Supporting Researchers: How a Lean Policy Engagement Unit Drives Policy Dialogue

Key features in a nutshell

• High Impact, Lean Setup: Proves that institutional policy engagement does not require a massive infrastructure: a dedicated team of 1-2 full-time equivalents can connect hundreds of researchers and policymakers
• Full-Service Brokerage: Minimizes administrative burdens for researchers and policymakers by handling logistics, identification of science–policy topics, match-making, and stakeholder mapping
• Building science for policy skills: The policy engagement unit has facilitated numerous workshops on science for policy skills and careers in policy institutions; it also provides how-to guides on various aspects of policy engagement
• Proven Track Record: Since 2016, facilitated over 3,500 bilateral meetings (connecting 400 policymakers with 850 researchers), organized 42 policy events, and trained over 400 researchers

How does the unit work?

Initially launched in 2016 as the office for the Mercator Science-Policy Fellowship-Programme, the the unit evolved into a permanent, central Science–Policy Interface. By securing additional grants (e.g., from the EU and the German Federal Ministry of Research), it broadened its scope into a full-fledged service unit for the three partner universities.

Today, the unit operates across three core pillars:

1. Matchmaking & Science–Policy Dialogue

• Targeted Matchmaking: Acts as a single point of contact (one-stop shop). When policymakers need academic expertise, the unit maps relevant researchers. Conversely, when researchers wish to reach decision-makers, the unit leverages its network.

• Format Facilitation: Coordinates everything from 1:1 meetings to lab visits, multi-stakeholder workshops, panel discussions on topics like AI, climate change, medicine of the future, social cohesion, populism, cybersecurity, social inequality, and environmental law in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main area, Berlin, and Brussels.

2. Capacity Building & Skills Training

• Workshops: Delivers interactive sessions on policy engagement, navigating political institutions, and career paths in policymaking institutions; the policy engagement unit has facilitated 17 workshops on science for policy skills and careers in policy institutions with more than 400 researchers participating

• Resources: Authors practical guides and toolkits (including the ENGAGEgreen Policy Engagement Toolkit) to equip researchers with actionable advice

3. Strategic Integration into Research Grants

• Early-Stage Cocreation: Encourages researchers to involve policymakers right from the proposal stage, helping refine research questions, identify policy relevance early, and secure funding dedicated to impact and dissemination; many researchers still regard policy engagement as a one-way street and do not feel that their research can benefit from engaging with policymakers by learning about new perspectives, topics, research questions, or hypotheses; many policy engagement activities, like policy events, take place at the end of projects; by conducting policy engagement early on, researchers can both maximize the benefit of the policy engagement for their research as well as the possible impact on policymaking by staying in touch with policymakers throughout the research projects rather than at the end

Key takeaways for your institution

• Start lean, not big: You don’t need a large department to begin; a single fellowship program or project grant can be the seed for a permanent structure;. our unit started as a one-off Mercator-funded fellowship office in 2016
• Take logistics off researchers’ plates: The single biggest lever for researcher participation is removing organizational friction; if your institution handles scheduling, room bookings, travel, and catering centrally, researchers are far more likely to say yes to policy engagement.
• Tell researchers support structures and funding exist for this: Many researchers are not aware of support structures at their institutions; also, many researchers simply don’t know that policy engagement activities can be funded as part of their grants; a short, proactive briefing on funding lines for engagement and dissemination can unlock activity that would otherwise never happen

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

Research managers and knowledge mobilisers

The unit has a dedicated team of one to two staff to connect researchers and policymakers. Staff are regularly in touch with both groups to identify topics for policy events and to organize bilateral meetings as well as policy events.

Researchers

The unit usually approaches researchers about participating as experts in one-to-one meetings with policymakers or at policy events. Because the unit handles organizational matters – scheduling, room bookings, travel, catering – researchers can focus on content rather than logistics. Researchers also approach the unit when they need contacts in policymaking institutions.

Policymakers

The unit regularly invites policymakers to take part in dialogue formats at the Rhine-Main Universities. Most either attend policy events such as workshops or lab visits or spend up to two days at the universities conducting face-to-face meetings with researchers. Policymakers also approach the unit when they need expertise, in which case the unit identifies suitable experts at the Rhine-Main Universities.

Sources and further reading

Sandevski, Tome (2023), How the Rhine-Main Universities promote knowledge exchange between researchers and policymakers via face-to-face meetings (accessed on 10 July 2026).

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