Bridging the Gap in a Changing World: New Opportunities and Challenges for Engaging Practitioners and the Public

In recent years, an array of initiatives has sought to bridge widely recognized gaps separating international studies scholars from policymakers and the public. While such gaps persist, changes in society, the media, and academia have altered the context for scholars seeking to make their research known to public and policy communities. On the one hand, the emergence on the public agenda of new policy concerns, proliferation of public-facing outlets seeking to feature scholarly expertise, and growing attention to diversity and inclusion have reduced some of the barriers to gap-bridging work. On the other hand, tenure and promotion standards continue to place limited weight on public engagement, political attacks on experts have raised new barriers to bridging, and social media often serve as sites of discrimination and harassment. We take stock of these shifts and use a scenario exercise to consider how the landscape for bridging the gap might evolve further in the years ahead. Focusing on potential changes in research funding models and the relationship between international studies scholarship and geopolitics, we highlight new bridging opportunities and challenges that may emerge over the next decade.