The Policy Unit is a cross-sectional unit. It offers comprehensive analyses of policy developments and the public discourse, and develops strategic inputs based on the scientific expertise of PIK and in close coordination with its reasearch departments. The unit’s main task is to strategically orientate the interface between the institute, politics and society, as well as develop its content.
Team
Head: Ann-Katrin Schenk
Maria Bader, Julia Epp, Niklas Illenseer, Marianna Lozzi, Dr. Artur Runge-Metzger, Katja Treichel-Grass
Student assistants: Lukas Hoff and Athena Möller
Task and approach
The PIK Policy Unit is centered on the idea that science must acknowledge the decision-making problem of politics – i.e. how to manage trade-offs between conflicting goals. One objective should always be: What do decision makers want to know? Meanwhile, the political and public debate should be proactively shaped based on scientific evidence, following the premise of what should decision makers know? Accordingly, the Policy Analysis Unit compiles scientific evidence based on the methods of research synthesis and processes scientific results to accommodate this specific target group. Formats offered for example include policy briefs or media commentaries.
The team also develops own analytical instruments and online tools to this end. It builds on and develops formats such as briefings or policy dialogues to understand policy processes and connect them to related scientific discourses. The goal is to anticipate public debates addressing “Climate, economics, and social justice” and proactively shape these debates based on scientific insights. These activities are underpinned by the Policy Unit's concept of a deliberative democratic learning process wherein a multitude of societal groups discusses policy alternatives.
Projects
The Policy Unit organizes and promotes the science-policy dialogue within the comprehensive research project Ariadne, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). This project investigates which policy instruments are suitable to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Together with actors from politics, economy and society, Ariadne conducts an evidence-based assessment in order to develop an improved scientific foundation for the transformation of the energy system.
The Policy Unit supports the Climate Protection Science Platform (WPKS), an independent and interdisciplinary committee of experts that provides the Federal Government with expertise on the implementation and further development of the German long-term climate protection strategy. The focus is on four work packages that are particularly relevant for the medium and long-term perspective in climate research and policy on the topics of climate adaptation, decarbonization of the building sector, CO2 extraction and storage, as well as climate governance in multi-level systems and federalism.
