As political scientists, we study power and the nature of the public world. Our research has immense public relevance and profound potential to shape political decisions and public policy, and to inform the public on matters of great significance for them as citizens. There is an important debate among political science scholars on the nature of our obligations as public intellectuals and how the ‘impact’ agenda has evolved in the last two decades (see Eisfeld and Flinders 2021; Capano and Verzichelli 2023; Garzia and Papadopoulos 2024). Brans and Timmermans (2024) on the basis of a survey of European political scientists concluded that most of us ‘live outside the “ivory tower”’. In this roundtable, we will discuss what this means in reality. The contributions will have a practical focus and discuss the many ways in which political scientists can reach audiences outside the academy. During the roundtable we will discuss how research can be packaged for public dissemination, the potential and pitfalls of social media, working with the mainstream media, blogging and podcasting and engaging with politicians and policy makers.
Chair:
Prof. Theresa Reidy, University College Cork
Speakers:
Prof. Diego Garzia, Université de Lausanne
Prof. Amanda Gouws, Stellenbosch University
