Academic Experts in Policymaking: Divergent Patterns but Persistent Profiles Across Parliament, Government, and Media

Original

Academic Experts in Policymaking: Divergent Patterns but Persistent Profiles Across Parliament, Government, and Media

Janne Ingelbeen, Tessa Haesevoets, Bram Wauters

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite the growing interest in expert involvement in policymaking, we lack a comprehensive and detailed understanding of how experts engage across both direct and indirect arenas, and which experts are most likely to be consulted. This study offers one of the first comparative analyses of academic expert involvement across multiple arenas, offering a unique view on how scientific expertise functions in policymaking. Focusing on three key arenas in Belgium—parliament, government, and the media—we examine (1) the overall patterns of academic expert involvement, including frequency, repeated participation, cross‐arena overlap, and expert profile characteristics, and (2) how arena‐specific logics shape these patterns. Based on a self‐compiled dataset of 17,843 consulted actors in Belgium, including 3,440 academic experts, this study offers an extensive analysis of the inclusion of scientific expertise in policy‐influencing settings. Drawing on interest group literature to guide our analyses, findings reveal that academic expert involvement varies substantially between arenas, with limited repeated participation and cross‐arena overlap. Across arenas, senior male professors from the social sciences and humanities are consistently overrepresented relative to the academic population. However, distinct arena‐specific logics, such as supply and demand dynamics, gatekeeper mechanisms, and mandate structures, play a critical role in shaping academic involvement in each arena. By mapping when, where, and which academics are involved, this study offers insights into whose voices shape evidence‐informed policymaking and how arena‐specific dynamics structure this.