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.

This format enables scientists to conduct face-to-face meetings with policymakers in one day or over several days – and vice versa. By conducting meetings with policymakers, scientists learn about policy perspectives on their research, while policymakers learn scientific perspectives on the policy issues they are dealing with. Face-to-face meetings are a very effective means of knowledge exchange, and they can establish long-term networks between scientists and policymakers.

The idea is straightforward: Scientists and policymakers have an informal chat on a policy issue. In doing so, the policymakers learn scientific perspectives on the policy issues they are dealing with. The scientists learn policy perspectives on their research topics. The policymakers can ask specific questions (e.g. How do smartphones affect the reading abilities of school kids in primary schools?) or general questions (e.g. How is digitalisation changing the finance industry? How do algorithms work?) or general questions. The meetings usually last for one hour. The meetings can take place as 1:1 meetings or in small group settings. What are the features of such programmes? Bidirectional knowledge transfer: While policymaking professionals learn about academic expertise, the participating researchers learn about policy perspectives on their research. Dialogue greatly increases knowledge. Face-to-face meetings are a very effective means of communication, and the interlocutors can decide on the topics they want to discuss. Voluntary nature: Only intrinsically motivated people apply and participate in meetings. Time efficiency: The policymaking professionals can pick the researchers they want to meet from comprehensive lists rather than browsing websites for hours to identify possible experts. Similarly, the participating scientists receive requests for meetings from the programmes' office, including possible time slots and thematic interests of the policymaking professionals. Open dialogue in an informal setting: The meetings offer a rare opportunity for both sides to have thorough and open conversations. Unlike hearings in parliaments or formal meetings in ministries, they occur in an informal setting, which helps the participants open up. No records of the meetings are produced. Diversity in terms of academic disciplines: If, for example, a policymaker asks how energy consumption can be reduced, the policymakers can conduct meetings with researchers from architecture on the subject of energy-saving construction, meetings with engineering experts on energy-saving technical solutions, and economists on the issues of energy taxes. Likewise, scientists can meet policymakers from various units of the same institution or multiple institutions. Bringing together people who would have never met otherwise: Many policymakers have yet to contact scientists. Meetings are an easy way to connect such policymakers with scientists. Scope: The format enables us to connect many scientists with many policymakers. For example, the Rhine-Main Universities organised 2,800 meetings between 300 policymakers and 750 scientists. How do universities connect with policymaking institutions? The universities can ask policymakers to submit lists of topics (e.g. biodiversity, climate change) they are interested in. The universities then assess whether they can organise face-to-face meetings with scientists. If their assessment is positive, the universities can propose possible dates for meeting with scientists or ask the policymakers to submit possible dates. Alternatively, universities can ask policymaking institutions if they want to welcome scientists to conduct face-to-face meetings with policymakers. Universities can then share lists of scientists interested in visiting policymaking institutions to conduct meetings with scientists. Such programmes can have a huge impact on enhancing institutional capacities since they can literally involve hundreds or even thousands of researchers who can connect with policymakers and learn about current challenges in policymaking.

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Scientists Scientists should examine the websites of the participating policymaking institutions to gain an overview of their policy issues. If the policymakers have submitted lists of questions, the scientists should consider possible answers in advance. Of course, the scientists have to conduct the meetings. Knowledge exchange managers and research managers While meetings between policymakers and scientists usually last about an hour, organising the meetings is very time-consuming. When conducting such formats for the first time, Knowledge exchange managers or research managers must inform scientists and policymakers about the format. They must match their scientists' expertise with the policymakers' areas of interest, which can take several weeks, depending on the format and number of participants. The managers have to schedule the meetings, compile lists of participants and conduct brief evaluations. Policymakers To derive great benefit from the meetings, the policymakers should prepare for the meeting by visiting the websites of the scientist to learn more about their areas of expertise. Suppose policymakers meet scientists from academic disciplines with whom they need to become more familiar. In that case, they should read a short article on the respective academic discipline, as a Wikipedia article will do in most cases. It is perfectly fine for policymakers not to be familiar with the expertise of the scientists they will meet. However, policymakers should understand why the meetings take place. Otherwise, they might spend time discovering the researcher`s expertise rather than discussing policy issues. Policymakers should also prepare questions or topics they would like to focus on.