This past June, a core group of the PhD students organised the first Science and Policy Summer School at the Columbia Global Center in Paris. With help from the Alliance Program and professors at both Columbia and Sciences Po, we were able to convene a group of 17 students from both sides of the Atlantic (Columbia, Arizona State, and the Universities of Minnesota and Southern California, and from Sciences Po, Pantheon-Sorbonne, \u00c3\u2030cole Polytechnique, \u00c3\u2030cole Normale Sup\u00c3\u00a9rieure, and the Paris School of Economics) with 9 speakers (including Jeff Sachs, John Mutter, and Scott Barrett; Bruno Latour, Claude Henry, and Pierre-Henri Gouyon from Paris; Eric Maskin from Princeton; and representatives from the French government and NGOs).<\/p>\n
The interdisciplinary, discussion-centered approach brought together a wide range of perspectives. \u00c2\u00a0Discussions were lively, with students and professors engaging research and experience to better understand how to bridge the gap between science and policy-making. At the end of the week, student groups presented on the results of their own meetings and research. \u00c2\u00a0Themes included scientific approaches to decision-making, South-South cooperation, global and national needs, the role of stakeholders, and international cooperation. \u00c2\u00a0The participants left the summer school with renewed interest in continuing to discuss these topics and collaborate on reports and papers.<\/p>\n