Kelli Barr, PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy and Religion

The language of socially relevant research and broader impacts is becoming prominent in academic and policy discourse in the US and Europe. Policy makers increasingly look to incorporate considerations of downstream societal benefits into the funding of research projects and setting research agendas. In short, researchers can no longer simply assume their work will one day benefit society in general. We are being called to explicitly demonstrate the value of our investigations to non-academic audiences.
But what does doing policy-relevant scholarship entail? What kinds of skills and situated expertise are necessary for making one’s work relevant to non-disciplinary peers, and how does this differ from existing research practices? How can one tell when such work is successful? This seminar explores the practical significance of these questions for early-career researchers, particularly philosophers. It features two parts:
1. An overview of central features of the federal policy making processes, identifying how and where academics can get involved.
2. A discussion of several case studies illustrating the kinds of skills and tools are useful for communicating with non-disciplinary audiences.