27 May 2025
On 26–27 May, researchers, advisors, and decision-makers gathered in Vienna for the conference Building Bridges: Shaping Europe’s Science-for-Policy Landscape. The conference was organised by the Scientific Advice Mechanism – SAM, an advisory body for evidence-based decision-making in the EU.
The conference was held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. Photo: Science Advice Mechanism EU
Over two intensive days in Vienna, experts from all over Europe gathered to discuss the relationship between expertise and decision-making. The conference was aimed at those working on research policy issues and provided a rare opportunity to exchange ideas, build new collaborations, and strengthen ties between academies across the continent.
The programme began earlier in May with a webinar on scientific advice in crises and a pre-meeting on science diplomacy. The main conference at the Austrian Academy of Sciences was opened with welcome speeches by Ekaterina Zaharieva, EU Commissioner for Research, and Eva-Maria Holzleitner, Austria’s Minister for Research.
Participants could then choose from parallel workshops, for example on the role of research when conflicts arise between national and global political interests. The second day started with a story about scientific influence in practice, before participants delved into interactive sessions on how young researchers can influence policy processes, among other topics.
Our international relations are very important to us. It was fruitful to talk to our sister academies in other countries to better understand the challenges they face when working to influence public decision-making.
Jesper Ahlin Marceta, PhD, research policy coordinator, The Young Academy of Sweden
Photo: Lars Pehrsson/Sveriges unga akademi
A side event to the main conference addressed communication under the title Communicating for Scientific Academies: Vienna Workshop. Invited experts and SAM’s own specialists focused on issues such as how scientific academies can manage and counteract polarization, as well as what the rapid development in AI looks like.
An example from the block on AI is HLE – Humanity’s Last Exam – a new, globally developed benchmark test that measures the limits of what large language models can achieve across a range of subjects, from mathematics to humanities and natural sciences. The test, which consists of 2,500 questions with unambiguous, difficult-to-Google answers, shows that today’s top models still perform far below the level of human experts on closed academic questions.
Among the participants was Mirko Bischofberger, PhD, who spoke about AI, and Toby Wardman, PhD, who contributed insights regarding communication strategy. Wardman has extensive experience in communication within political organizations. Tony reminded that academies have expertise, platforms, and high trust. The academies also have arenas for open dialogues. Building bridges and countering polarization is an important mission to manage.
Several participants had also met at the conference in Warsaw 2023, hence this meeting provided an opportunity to deepen contacts further. Some academies are located in countries directly affected by geopolitical crises, and the workshop provided a valuable chance to discuss challenges together with experts and colleagues.
More everyday challenges were also addressed. One participant shared how their academy managed to disseminate vaccination information through a voluntary ambassador. The ambassador had personally suffered from illness and wanted to help others avoid becoming ill. By being a person that the target audience with widespread vaccine resistance could identify with, they became an important voice in the communication.
The Scientific Advice Mechanism was established in 2015 to provide independent scientific evidence to the senior management of the European Commission. Since 2023, they also respond to queries from the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, in collaboration with, among others, the scientific academies within SAPEA.
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