Cooperation of science and politics key to improving political processes

HOW AND TO WHICH EXTENT SHOULD POLITICAL ACTORS RELY ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

The director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Economic (FREN), Jelena Žarković Rakić, emphasized the importance of understanding the needs and capacities of the main actors in the political decision making process, during the conference Social sciences and political institutions: Challenging the boundaries of (non)cooperation held at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade.

“In order to contribute to the development of better public policies, it is important to increase the capacities of both researchers  and policy makers. Researchers need to adopt sound methodology in conducting assesmnet of public policies, while capacity of policy makers in using scientific advice should increase.“ Žarković Rakić told the audience during the panel discussion “Political use of scientific research in Serbia”

The conference Social Sciences and Political Institutions was jointly organized by the Perform project, University of Friburg, Faculty of Political Science, and the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory. You may find enclosed the agenda and complete list of attendee.

On the first day of the conference, the Minister without portfolio responsible for demographics and population policy, Slavica Đukić Dejanović, emphasized that from the beginning her department relied on science and scientific facts. “When the department was founded in 2016, our first step was to admit that we don’t know enough, but that we have to learn how to make a change ”, Đukić Dejanović said.

Besides underlining  the importance of strengthening linkages between policy makers and reaserch community, the goal of the two day conference was to illustrate the complexity of the relationship between science and politics. The director of FREN, Jelena Žarković Rakić,  said that it is important to secure transparency in procurement practices related to research calls and, once research is over, in providing “accessibility” of research products.

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Social Sciences and Political Institutions_Agenda