Read here about our approach at KEL Politics and what goals we pursue with our work between science and politics.

The social and political research of SCRIPTS is concerned with many problems and topics that are salient for public policy. At the same time, the policy sphere is often a “black box” to which researchers often don’t have access. To bridge this gap between policy and academia, the Knowledge Exchange Lab (KEL) serves as a multidirectional channel for the transfer of research-relevant policy information into the cluster and for the diffusion of policy-relevant research into the public policy process. While policymakers rely on ongoing reflections and findings of the cluster, researchers get a closer look into substantial policy processes to reflect the practical implications of their own work.

So far, the knowledge exchange activities with policy actors have mainly focused on foreign policy, especially through a close cooperation with the German Federal Foreign Office. Through integration into the ministries’ daily operations, a research associate identifies and explores areas of overlapping mutual interest within foreign policy practice and SCRIPTS.

Policy practitioners as well as relevant stakeholders are brought into an ongoing dialogue through multiple discussion forums. In the medium to long term, it is moreover a major objective of the KEL to build a network of collaborative relations that goes beyond the executive branch of German politics and includes legislative, judicative, and civil institutions. Cooperation with other political actors such as the German Bundestag, political foundations, thinktanks, and civil society organisations are currently further developed.