Key messages

• Bridging science and policy requires a good understanding of interests and working style, trust and long-term partnerships between policymakers and scientists.
• Research needs to be demand driven to be more relevant for use by policymakers. Identifying the right partners, times and places, and delivering research products based on their interests and in a timely manner will also increase the possibility of narrowing gaps between policymakers and scientists.
• Providing easy-to-understand and accessible communication products that are well- tailored to policymakers’ preferences and needs is the key to scientific knowledge transfer.
• Programme impacts can be sustained by providing capacity building for national stakeholders, supporting national partners in securing funding to continue implementing activities after FTA ends, and collaborating with large-scale projects to uptake and replicate findings.
• Recognizing and acknowledging the politics embedded in decision-making processes, empowering civil society to hold the state accountable in creating transformative coalitions for change, and maintaining scientists’ roles as independent knowledge brokers also play important roles in bridging science and policy.