Policy and the evidence beast

Why is evidence-based policy sometimes so problematic in actual practice? What improvements could be made in the roles adopted by scientists and politicians? Those are the key questions addressed in this publication, which is based on interviews with people actively engaged in science, policymaking, and politics.

André Knottnerus (WRR) and Paul Huijts (Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sport) deal with health care; Henriëtte Maassen van den Brink (University of Amsterdam) and Jeroen Dijsselbloem (Socio-Democratic party) discuss education; Frank Bovenkerk (Utrecht University); and Madeleine Toorenburg (Christian-Democratic party) focus on justice. Last but not least, Daniel Sarewitz was interviewed about his much-cited article “How science makes environmental controversies worse” in Environmental Science & Policy.