Bringing A Large, Diverse, and Dynamic Field Into Focus

Who does science and technology policy? Sometimes even the field’s practitioners aren’t so sure. John Andelin, once assistant director of the Office of Technology Assessment, tells a story about working on Capitol Hill as an unofficial science advisor to a congressman in the early 1970s: “I was asked to give a speech on ‘science policy.’ I mentioned it to a colleague, saying that I didn’t know anything about it. His response, after laughing, was that that’s what I did.”

Understanding who works in science and tech policy is important. Their day-to-day activities influence whether and how individuals and communities thrive in the modern world. The pace of biomedical innovation; society’s ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change; the development and regulation of cutting-edge technologies like nanotech and artificial intelligence—these issues and many more are shaped by people in this relatively unknown field.

So Issues conducted a survey. We wanted to explore how the community defines itself; the paths that lead to careers in science and tech policy; practitioners’ motivations, activities, and opinions on how the field is changing; and what the future holds for science and technology policymaking. The results, as written up by Josh Trapani and Katherine Santos Pavez , present a fascinating—and even surprising—snapshot of a large, diverse, and dynamic field.

Explore the findings of our science and technology policy survey.