Abstract:
This article applies a ‘knowledge brokering’ approach to contextualise the development of
an integrated computer modelling tool into the real world policy context of adaptation of
agriculture to climate change at the EU level. In particular, the article tests a number of
knowledge brokering strategies described and theorised in the literature, but seldom
empirically tested. The article finds that while the policy context can be used to identify
a theoretically informed knowledge brokering strategy, in practice a strategy’s ‘success’ is
more informed by practical considerations, such as whether the tool development process is
knowledge or demand driven. In addition, in practice the knowledge brokering process is
found to be dynamic and messy, which is not always apparent in the literature. The article
goes on to question the perception that there is always a need (or a desire) to bridge the gap
between researchers and policy makers in the tool development process. Rather than a
problem of design and communication, the science policy interface may be characterised
more by a high level of competition between researchers and research organisations to have
their tool legitimised by its use in the policy making process.
