The topic of academies’ role was motivated by multiple factors. Global interest in assuring evidence-informed public policy has grown in recent years and it is widely understood that National Academies have long held a central position in providing academic expertise to government decision making. Yet the recent troubling trend toward ‘anti-expert’ and ‘anti-elite’ politics and populism risks preventing the benefit that Academies can bring to public discourse and good governance. 

What’s more, there seems to be a sense of urgency to act in the face of the three defining features of our time: climate change; profound geopolitical shifting and digitalisation of everyday life, with the populism that comes with it. This global context prompted INGSA to host a workshop on the evolving role of academies.