Evaluation of new models of science-policy assessments in natural resource policy: Comperative evaluation of practices in Austria and the United States of America

The protection and sustainable management of natural resources is one of the major challenges of the years to come. Science has the potential to give support in many technical questions. However, the practical value of scientific research depends on the success of knowledge transfer from theory into the application context. This research project intends to focus on the elaboration and evaluation of innovative strategies of knowledge transfer in the field of natural resource policy. In the USA new models of science-policy assessment, which try to bridge the gap between science and policy, were worked out and tested in the field. This research project aims at finding out if, to what extent, and under what circumstances the experiences made in the USA can be transferred to the Austrian context. For that purpose, a number of US case studies will be described and evaluated. The selected cases will be analyzed on two levels: first, on a macro level of interest-group politics and governmental power and, second, on a micro level of scientific claims and counterclaims. In preparation for the research stay in the United States, I will describe and evaluate the status quo of science-policy consultation in Austria. The subsequent research stay at Harvard University will aim at comparing consultation models employed in Austria to models applied in the USA. Interviews with scientists who investigated and evaluated past science-policy assessments will be carried out, past and present consultation processes will be investigated by participatory observations and by semi-structured expert interviews with the key actors involved (both scientists and policy makers), and publicly available records and media reports will be analyzed to document the outcomes of these consultation processes. Finally it will be possible to give an overall view of the existing models of science-policy assessment and to explain under what circumstances a specific model is applicable and where its limits of application are.