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RSS SubscribeSunday 22nd November 2009
Research should play bigger role in policy
by Alan Osborn
A better understanding and use of research could eliminate many of the errors made by governments and others in developing policy, and lead to greater governance effectiveness, according to a report by the League of European Research Universities.
The findings may sound banal but the conclusion is cogently argued by researchers who are at the top of their field in Europe, indeed the world. They include Sir Michael Marmot of University College, London, an expert on the social determinants of health, and Professor Andreas Kruse of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg, an expert on ageing.
The league itself represents the 20 foremost universities in Europe and the report stems from a symposium titled ‘How long will you live?’ held earlier this year and involving the LERU and EU policy- makers.
In calling for better interaction between science and the development of policy, the report focuses on two of the main challenges facing society today: health and ageing. The argument is advanced on the basis of case studies which, say the report’s authors, promote “key factors for ensuring that the processes of engagement between researchers, policy makers and society are fruitful and effective”.
“Researchers need to be ready for those moments in the political cycle when politicians need ideas. On the other hand, politicians need to understand that research has a long-term timescale and that answers may be incomplete or inconclusive,” says the report.
There is also a need to ensure that science is better understood and respected by citizens. “In the end, all players - researchers, policy makers and politicians - need to understand that coming up with successful policies is the result of complex interactions between research findings and the values and judgements of society at large. These judgements are ultimately shaped by two questions: In what kind of world do we want to live and what is the price we are prepared to pay to achieve it?”
The report challenges many of the assumptions people make about ageing and argues that we should look on older people not as handicaps but rather as the providers of ‘competencies’. In a supposedly knowledge-based economy, as the EU claims to be, “it seems perverse to force brainpower into retirement at the point when it is seasoned and experienced”.
Policy makers need to make important and urgent decisions about how Europe should be disbursing its healthcare budgets and structuring its social and education policies to deal with health inequalities and the demographic time bomb. To do so, they need to be informed by the best research in health and ageing, says the report.
A central finding is that spending will achieve little unless it is reinforced by scientific analysis of the factors involved. Why is it that middle-aged English people are healthier than their American counterparts even though the US spends an average of $5,274 per person per year on healthcare compared with $2,164 in the UK?
“The US spends 16% of its gross domestic product on healthcare yet is 36th in the world for life expectancy in men, 40th for women. That means US policies are wrong,” Marmot says. “We are building a global movement for action on the social determinants of health and health equity. We are now trying to use the science to change the world.”
