It was an honour to welcome Dr Amanda Silva Brun from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, to the Cambridge Graphene Centre (CGC) today for a special QAMSS Strategic Research Initiative (SRI) Lecture.
In her talk, titled “Improving Innovation Public Policies by Placing Researchers as Contributors,” Dr Silva Brun shared unique insights into how Europe can strengthen its innovation ecosystem by involving researchers more directly in shaping public policy.
As Coordinator of the European Workgroup INPACT!, Dr Silva Brun emphasised that enhancing Europe’s competitiveness requires viewing researchers not only as generators of scientific knowledge, but also as key contributors to policy design, implementation, and evaluation.
She illustrated these ideas through three case studies—at the regional (Paris Region), national (France), and Europeanlevels—demonstrating how collaborative engagement between policymakers and scientists can accelerate the transformation of research into innovation.
This special lecture added an enriching dimension to the QAMSS Lecture Series for the Michaelmas Term, prompting thoughtful discussion on how academic expertise can inform and improve innovation policy frameworks across Europe.
The QAMSS community extends its warm thanks to Dr Silva Brun for her visit and for sharing such a timely and inspiring perspective on the interface between research and policy.
