On Thursday, October 31^st, 2013, the KDI School held a special lecture on "Strengthening Government-Academic Cooperation in Public Policy". The speaker for the lecture was Professor Mark Matthews, an accomplished research and innovation policy analyst of the Crawford School of Public Policy in the Australian National University. Prof Mark Matthews is also the Executive Director of the HC Coombs Policy Forum (a “think tank” within the Australian National Institute for Public Policy (ANIPP) – a strategic collaboration between the Australian Government and The Australian National University).

In his lecture, Prof Mark highlighted the approach the HC Coombs forum has taken to strengthen the intersection between government and the academic expertise and the lessons learned thus far over the last three years.

He stressed the need for government to move beyond the comfort zone of uncertainty and a risk manager of last resort as this status quo has limitations. Governments have to develop an appetite for risk and an ability to manage these risks effectively.

The government also has to stop dismissing theory and ‘ideology’ as they are equally and critically important in helping us to understand patterns of behavior that give us insights into what may happen in the future. Theories can help governments to speculate about the (as yet) unknown on the basis of evidence. Government can exploit the academics’ comparative advantages in analytical methods for evidence-based policy making. Analytical methods can identify patterns in complex phenomena and policy challenges while structured hypothesis testing methods can give more vigor to forward looking studies – linking the known to the (as yet) unknown and fostering learning-by-doing in development.

Government- Academic cooperation in public policy is highly important as it creates a platform for a more effective evidence- based policy making. The relationship between government and the academia could be symbiotic in the sense that both parties can benefit from each other and as a result exploit the capabilities that lie at their interfaces to address several policy challenges in the society.

By Mercy CHIME (2013 MDP, Nigeria)