Policy Sciences has been effectively applied to a great variety of problems over time, inter alia, authoritarianism, armed conflict, boundary disputes, climate change, dysfunctional constitutive process, environmental degradation, unsustainable development, gender discrimination, challenges to full rights and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples, human rights violations, malnutrition, wildlife loss, international disputes, ocean degradation, and conflicts over outer space. Our contemporary problems are increasingly complex, unbounded, wicked, and divisive. The increasing prevalence and global impact of authoritarianism, armed conflict, boundary disputes, climate change; dysfunctional constitutive processes, environmental degradation, unsustainable development, challenges to full rights and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples, human rights violations, malnutrition, wildlife loss, ocean degradation, and conflicts over outer space all lead to myriad deprivations in human dignity. Resolving such problems based upon shared goals toward a common interest seems beyond reach. The goal of this year’s Annual Institute is to demonstrate, document, and strengthen the mechanisms for sharing and building expertise in the Policy Sciences (a.k.a., Law, Science and Policy; New Haven School of Jurisprudence) as an effective multi-method, contextual approach to resolve seemingly intractable problems.

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Our contemporary problems in confronting these myriad deprivations of human dignity are increasingly complex, unbounded, wicked and divisive. Resolving them based upon shared goals towards a common interest seems beyond reach. Thus, Policy Sciences (a.k.a. Law, Science and Policy; New Haven School of Jurisprudence) is needed now more than ever.  It is incumbent upon experienced Policy Scientists to make the case for teaching and using the Policy Sciences. This is the goal of this year’s Annual Institute.

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The Annual Institute 2024 invites Policy Scientists to select and clarify a problem, apply the Policy Sciences to their selected problem, projecting plausible futures and alternatives. They will share insights grounded in scholarship, practice and experience. Policy Scientists will collectively articulate the value and contribution of our multi-method contextual approach. We hope to draw on this expertise to generate a draft manuscript that will make the case for the relevance of our enterprise in the form of a highly significant and visible publication. The first mechanism will be to draw on the expertise of experienced Policy Scientists to generate one or more draft manuscripts, developed through collaborations, that will make the case for the relevance of our enterprise in the form of significant and visible publications.

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Continuing the theme, the second mechanism, and the second focus of this year’s Institute, is the Policy Sciences Academy.  This longstanding initiative could be a critical factor in the promotion and sustainability of our enterprise.  To encourage and facilitate a means for greater collaboration among Policy Scientists, possibly leading to Policy Sciences courses and programs in the long run, an important step is collecting and curating materials to provide a common basis for this collaboration. Initially, the curated materials will cover protecting the environment and natural resources, ensuring national security, enhancing women’s roles, securing food and nutrition, and combatting poverty. Some members are placing curated materials on the Academy subsite (currently labeled the Library subsite) of the Society’s website (policysciences.org).

Finally, we will devote a portion of allotted time to hear from students of Policy Sciences.  Participation by students provides new insights, encourages the sharing of perspectives among members with experience in using the Policy Sciences and/or experience struggling with problems that the Policy Sciences can help to address, and highlights areas where the Society and its members can improve its approaches to developing Policy Scientists.

This year’s Institute will comprise sessions in which (1) experts apply Policy Sciences to complex problems, (2) Policy Science Academy curators present their approaches with Society members proposing topics and materials, (3) selected student Policy Scientists apply the method to a clarified problem.