Official Launch at the Eawag Symposium
How do we build better bridges between science and policy? Addressing challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequities requires more than scientific knowledge or political will. It also takes a set of competencies that are often invisible: the ability to listen carefully, recognize diverse roles, navigate complexity, and engage at the right time and place.
At the Eawag Symposium on September 19, 2025, we are excited to officially present the Second Series of Cartoons on Competencies at the Science–Policy Interface (SPI).
Who are “we”? We are the team of Work Package 3 of the Joint Initiative Engage – Evidence-based dialogue on trade-offs in wicked societal problems, developing and testing innovative teaching and learning formats to help researchers, policymakers and practitioners to engage successfully in science-policy dialogues. We also foster a Community of Practice (CoP), bringing together educators, researchers, and practitioners to co-develop tools and formats — including storytelling, cartoons, and interactive role plays — that support more effective science-policy engagement.
Developed from the Competencies Framework for the SPI (Donata Dettwiler, Hanna Salomon, Monika Siegrist, Luisa Last, Jialin Zhang and Sabine Hoffmann, in review), the cartoons bring to life four key areas:
- Cognitive competencies – making sense of complexity
- Spatial-temporal competencies – choosing the right moment and place
- Relational competencies – building trust and networks
- Reflexive competencies – reflecting on roles and power dynamics
Through playful yet thought-provoking illustrations, this series highlights the hidden skills that make collaboration across science and policy meaningful.
Our hope is that they spark recognition, reflection, and maybe even a smile in diverse contexts – from classrooms to conferences to policy dialogues.
Thanks to Christof Stückelberger for this great artistic work!
The cartoons are available under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) and can be freely used or exhibited with credit.