When Science Meets Policy
How can environmental scientists get their studies not only noticed by policymakers, but actually used? To answer this, researchers at the Technion and at Ben-Gurion University reviewed over 1700 records and analyzed hundreds of recommendations for promoting evidence-based policy. Surprisingly, they found that recommendations offer limited practical guidance for addressing the challenges scientists actually face.
The study produced a novel framework to guide scientists in choosing science-policy communication recommendations best suited to their individual circumstances. One recommendation stood out as relevant across contexts: Scientists are encouraged to invest in trust-based relationships.
However, common challenges remain unresolved. Scientists are encouraged to engage policymakers in open dialogue yet often lack practical guidance on how to do so. The literature also offers little help for navigating confrontational and partisan political environments. For Yael Miara, the study’s lead researcher, these challenges are deeply personal.
Now completing her PhD at the Technion, under the supervision of the co-authors Prof. Ayelet Baram Tsabari and Dr. Naama Teschner, Yael recalls her own experience as an ecologist: “I thought it was important that conservation practitioners use my research to make informed decisions, but I struggled to convince them. Sometimes they had questions I couldn’t answer, like ‘will this work on a larger scale’. I wondered if it was just me who experienced such challenges”.
Her research revealed that these challenges were far from unique. They often lead to ‘the science–policy gap’: the disparity between the wealth of scientific research available and the evidence that policymakers actually encounter and use.
This realization led Yael to join the Applied Science Communication Research Group at the Technion, where she began exploring how science could be communicated more effectively. Her goal is to bridge the science-policy gap by helping scientists like herself become better communicators: “Most ecologists want to impact decisions to promote a sustainable future, but don’t know how to communicate with policymakers. I hope our article changes that.”
Image: scientist and practitioner imagine sustainable ecological restoration together (generated by ChatGPT).
To read the full article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211464526001120
To cite the article: Miara, V. Y., Teschner, N., & Tsabari, A. B. (2026). Speaking louder than words: An actionable communication framework supporting evidence-informed environmental policy. Environmental Development, 101540. DOI: 10.1016/j.envdev.2026.101540
