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  • CORRESPONDENCE

Advising policymakers can’t be taught — researchers must learn by doing

By
  1. Noam Obermeister

    1. EIT RawMaterials, Berlin, Germany.

  2. Mike Hulme

    1. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

In your Editorial on scientists advising governments, you state that “Improving global science advice … needs people with better training and skills for the job” (Nature 636, 8; 2024). But there is no perfect handbook for effective science advice — and there never will be. A formalized approach to training early- and mid-career researchers might set up false expectations about how science advisers can bridge science and policy without them having to spend time immersed in the world of policy.

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Nature 637, 548 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00113-3

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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