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Speakers’ corner
Good thinking: six ways to bridge the gap between scientists and policy makers
  1. Bernard C K Choi1,2,3,
  2. Anil Gupta4,
  3. Brian Ward5
  1. 1
    Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
  2. 2
    Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
  3. 3
    Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
  4. 4
    Applied Research and Analysis Directorate, Health Canada, Ottawa, Canada
  5. 5
    Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
  1. Dr B C K Choi, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, Government of Canada, P.L. 6806A, 785 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0K9; Bernard_Choi{at}phac-aspc.gc.ca

https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2008.082636

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    In public health, it is desirable that scientists and policy makers communicate their knowledge effectively or run the risks of barriers in language and understanding. More incentives and opportunities to collaborate will help scientists and policy makers appreciate their different goals, career paths, attitudes towards information, and perception of time.1 2 Knowledge brokers can also bring scientists and policy makers closer to understanding each other and the contribution each can make to the other.1 2

    Based on a consideration of three types of key players (scientists, policy makers, and knowledge brokers), each divided into two categories (content and people) (table 1), six ways are suggested to bridge the gap between scientists and policy makers.

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    Table 1 Six ways to bridge the gap between scientists and policy makers

    1. Convey science contents to policy makers

    Research outputs should be made accessible to policy makers.1 In some cases, complex analyses must be simplified3 and stepped …

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    Footnotes

    • Competing interests: None.