How Representative Foster and Dr. Raissian met:
Raissian: “Connecticut is small and so Representative Foster and I have sort of crossed each other's paths a couple of different times.
Part of my desire to become a researcher was to become a publicly engaged researcher. I was a social worker prior to coming into research and I wanted to try to figure out the answers to some pressing questions and then inform policy and practice with that. But the way we met actually had nothing to do with my professional role. I was actually at a public hearing that Representative Foster was a part of–the public health committee, on vaccines (in 2021). I testified for the bill, but I did that as a person, as a mom. But after the hearing, I emailed the folks on the public health committee–I followed up from my testimony and shared that I was also a professor at Yukon and had some expertise in science and public health, especially in the realm of kids and families.
Representative Foster called me within five minutes of sending her the email and we chatted about the bill. I'm happy to say that the bill passed!
We just sort of keep coming up with things that are of mutual interest. We both, I think, have a commitment to making sure that evidence gets to policymakers and practitioners in a way that is accessible and meets their needs and can help better policy.”
On being a policymaker and scientist concurrently:
Foster: “There's a great number of times where being the only scientist in the room [in government] is a really important voice. Not that there are other people who are not academically minded or don’t have tremendous skills for discerning scientific data, but there are so many times where people have a really hard time peeling back the onion and discerning credibility between experts, advocates, and industry.
And a lot of times, the science gets sort of lost in the fray of argument between those organizations. And, you know, I have a colleague who talks about flavored tobacco prohibition laws and their efficacy or lack thereof.
And I will tell you that when she tries to establish nuance in the data, there are a lot of people who think, you're either with tobacco free kids or the tobacco industry, there is no in between. And she said, well, actually science is quite a bit more nuanced than one side or the other side. And it's very easy for people to sort of get lost in that crosstalk.”
On organizing the Moving Beyond Implications Conference this past January (focused on gathering researchers and state legislators together to discuss evidence-based policymaking decisions):
Raissian: “I think due to the inaugural nature, as well as the compressed timeline, there are certainly things we would do differently. That said, I think we're very proud of what happened. So, I thought there'd be, like, 20 people there. There were over a hundred people that engaged with the conference in person that day. [But we also] emailed committees after, et cetera. So I think the reach of the conference was far beyond the 100 people that came that day.
I'm proud to say that we had representation from about four or five [academic] institutions, and we needed to have good representation throughout the committees. And it kind of came down to, what are the topics that policymakers might find useful to them in this session, given the bills that are likely to come up.”
Foster: “[Researchers] were speaking and presenting to policymakers who were sitting around a ring and were members of [a particular] committee. And it was almost like they were testifying in front of a committee, but instead of only having three minutes to talk, they had a slide deck and could do a presentation.
I will say, some feedback I've gotten from policymakers on this is that there are things that they're interested in that they know they have academic gaps in. So next year they'd like to get us a list of the things they'd like to learn more about.”
On how to connect with policymakers if they are not the kind of people that you normally run into:
Foster: “If those initial emails and calls don't get you where you want to go, there are a couple of organizations that I think can amplify the work of academics and get it in front of legislators.
There’s CSG, the Council of State Government and NCSL, the National Convention of State Legislatures. Interestingly, both of those groups actually employ policy analysts, and they put out like policy briefs. There are these non-profit organizations that summarize the state of research, like FRAC, the Food and Research Action Council, or the Center of Budget Priorities. There are these organizations whose target audience is legislators. And so you might try reaching out there and they might tell you, there's this person who's really interested in what you're talking about and you might not know them otherwise.
Also, if you're not getting responses from legislators on things that you're trying to talk about academically, one of the things that I recommend is thinking about their audience and the slant, because sometimes in politics, I'm thinking in criminology in particular, I can imagine how that conversation is going for you, if your research isn't confirming a bias that they already hold and you are trying to tell them something different, you might need to lead in with a place you agree, you might need to start with evidence that is something they're comfortable with and build the rapport around that before you can start talking about how their deeply held central belief and all the public talking points that they've ever had are not supported in data.”
Raissian: “The final thing I would say about reaching policymakers is sometimes you have to pound some pavement. You have to know that one of the reasons they're not emailing you back is because they get a thousand emails and it's just really hard.
So I can't tell you how many day-long hearings I have sat through simply so at the end of the 12 hour hearing I can go shake the chair's hand. Bring your laptop. And at the end of it, have your digital and hard copy card.
So I have it on my phone, it’s a QR code and you just scan it and then I go straight to their contacts and then I also have a hard copy and you shake their hand and they're like, this person just invested 12 hours so they could shake my hand for five seconds. That sticks with them.”
On academics speaking on areas outside of their singular area of expertise:
Foster: “You have to be careful to not speak out of your scope of expertise, but don’t lose credibility as someone who has critical science skills. Because as a scientist, I can tell you credible, not credible.
During that vaccine public hearing [that Dr. Raissian had mentioned], there were crazy things that got said that day and people who presented themselves as academics literally making stuff up. So if you don't speak, there are other people who are not doing good science.
I want to make sure that's the thing you take away from this. If you are afraid to speak and you're afraid to make a mistake, somebody else will do something worse with less knowledge than you have, including a student who got paid.
Use your best judgment for how your information is going to be used. But you know, academia hammers our inadequacies into us. We know our limitations. I trust you all to know where your limitations are. I don't trust the people who are like, ‘oh my god, I have a master’s, I can totally talk about vaccines and why they're poisoning you.’”
On the variety of different ways a researcher can get their research in front of a policymaker:
Raissian: There’s lots of ways to make your point. So if, you know, testifying is not the thing that you're comfortable doing for whatever reason, or maybe you're teaching that day or you don't have 12 hours or whatever, you can write an OpEd, you can figure out what the publication is.
Connecticut SSN has started an OpEd with The Connecticut Mirror. We chose The Connecticut Mirror because it's open access. Policymakers do read it.
You could write briefs and email them. You can pound pavement, you can show up at different events. You can make your way into getting an ear in other ways. After the vaccine hearing, I emailed a lot of legislators, one of whom was a Republican, who was one of the lone Republicans who voted for the bill.
And he emailed me a bunch of questions and I emailed him back with sources and sites and it took a lot of time. I don't know why he voted the way he did.I know that was a hard vote for him. He broke rank with his party and didn't say how he was going to vote prior to the vote.
So,there are lots of different ways to get your research in front of policymakers. One is working with SSN to, to have them amplify the work that you're doing. I emailed the other day with Dominik [Doemer], SSN’s Director of Communications. I had a researcher who was interested in getting a piece out but it needed some work. And I was like, could you put this in your queue?
Because a lot of these policy conversations are quite large, you have to [ask yourself], if there is a part where you can be the most useful in balancing your time.