Kari-Elisabeth is an externally funded PhD candidate at TIK. She has an MA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. She graduated in 2013 and has since then worked as an advisor in The Norwegian Ministry of Research and Education, in The Department of Research. Her PhD project is separate from, but related to OSIRIS - Oslo Institute for Research on the Impact of Science. The project is funded by The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research and The Research Council of Norway through the Public Sector PhD scheme.
ABOUT THE PHD PROJECT
Project title: The impact of research on policy: an empirical study of the use of scientific knowledge in policymaking in Norway.
Underlying this challenge, are three interlinked research questions:
RQ1: What kinds of factors have been found to influence the impact of research on policy?
RQ2: How are Norwegian policies influenced by research?
RQ3: How and when do policymakers seek and use scientific knowledge in their work?
Combined, the questions may provide new insight into how research influence policy in Norway. The intension is to provide novel academic insight that may help realize a more evidence-based policymaking, by providing a demand-side perspective on diffusion and use of scientific knowledge in policy.
The project will consist of
i) a literature review (RQ1), to ensure that the project builds on and learns from earlier research,
ii) a document analysis of official Norwegian policy documents (RQ2), to describe the extent to which they refer to research, what type of research they do refer to and potential differences between ministries and governments, and
iii) a survey (RQ3) to policymakers (civil servants and politicians) in selected ministries in Norway and possibly one or two more countries, to investigate the process of research 'uptake and use' within these ministries, as well as an analysis of mechanisms that facilitate research uptake and utilization.