How can social science research play an active role in shaping policy? How has the pandemic altered, obstructed, or accelerated this relationship? In cities and states across the country, policy makers confronting an array of challenges — in public safety, juvenile justice, education — increasingly turn to social scientists to help understand their constituents’ needs, and then design, test, and target interventions to address them. Dana Weiner and Max Kapustin will share firsthand experience working with policy makers to generate and apply evidence with scientific rigor to these difficult problems, highlighting the challenges and opportunities presented by the unprecedented disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.
