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Laurie Winkless

Winkless Science Storytelling / MEDEA

New Zealand

Metrology Policy Briefs in the MEDEA project:

A mini-workshop

7^th November 2024

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Context – MEDEA 3.0

A key priority of MEDEA 3.0: The development of e-learning materials and training programmes for use across the Asia-Pacific region.

I developed and ran a series of online training courses:

How to write metrology Case Studies
How to write metrology Policy Briefs

A goal of MEDEA 3.0: The delivery of dedicated web portal for use by APLMF and APMP.

https://metrologyasiapacific.com/

– today’s focus

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Context – MEDEA 3.0

A stated deliverable of MEDEA 3.0: “Six policy briefs or guidelines on metrology with regard to national priorities and/or selected SDGs.”

Delivered nine policy briefs
Written by working metrologists
Policy brief authors represent eight economies

+ New guideline document:

Communicating metrology to policymakers and the public: A practical guide to writing metrology Policy Briefs and Case Studies

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What is a policy brief?

A policy brief is a short, concise summary of a particular topic or issue, written to help readers understand – and likely, make decisions about – the topic.
It is aimed at a non-specialised audience, specifically politicians, government advisors, and others interested in formulating or influencing policy.
A key communication tool, used to analyse or advocate for research or expert-based analysis across a wide range of sectors.
Just one of many ways to disseminate knowledge.

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A good metrology policy brief should….

Be short and concise
Be well-defined, and focused in scope
Function as a standalone document
Speak to the target audience
Be convincing and interesting to read

Use data, graphics, images, tables (& key references)
Favour clear language over jargon (professional, not academic)
Communicate the practical implications of metrology

….and, in this case

Be suitable for use across all MEDEA economies.

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Formats

Typical / recommended

1 – 3 pages (700 – 1500 words)
4 – 6 pages (<2500 words)

Less common

7 – 10 pages (<4000 words)

If it is > 10 pages, it is a policy report, not a brief.

On average, policymakers spend 30-60 minutes reading a policy brief

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to writing policy briefs. Each sector tends to have its own preferences and goals for the documents, which has an impact on their structure. But the typical / recommended format – below 2500 – words reflects the fact that policymakers are TIME-POOR.

*CLICK* on average, they spend 30 – 60 minutes reading a policy document.

Really, with a document like this, efficiency is key

*CLICK* You will find longer policy briefs, of 7 – 10 pages (< 4000 words), but they are less common.

In my opinion, anything longer than 10 pages would be considered a policy report, rather than a brief. Those longer documents also have value, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.

Policy briefs are an effective way to bring important research/topics to the attention of policymakers, precisely because they can be read in a short amount of time. So again, when writing a policy brief, we need to think about the actual needs of the person reading it.

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Our approach

Share ideas

Discuss

Choose 3 topics

Assign authors

First round

1

2

3

4

5

6

Second round

7

8

9

As an aside - our approach to developing these policy briefs was rather novel. With participants scattered all over the globe, and everyone working on their own specific topics, we couldn’t really do it in a single workshop environment.

*CLICK* Decided to split the goal in two – develop three PBs in the first 18 months, and three in the second 18 months. We developed a template for each MEDEA PB to follow.

*CLICK* In the first round, we put out an open call across APMP and APLMF for people interested in writing a policy brief

Held a brainstorm, inviting all of those people who expressed an interest in the training program, plus Working group members from APLMF and APMP – asked for ideas of topics that would be suitable to explore in a policy brief. We discussed and chose THREE topics, and assigned 1-2 authors to work on the 3 PBs..

We did something similar for ROUND 2, but we ended up with SIX willing authors, all with good ideas for policy brief topics, rather than 3.

*CLICK* Once the topics were chosen, we started the training programme. It was done over several months. It included a couple of live webinars – where I would provide specific tips and guidance for the authors. The authors received weekly lessons by email. We held regular group meetings to keep everyone updated, and set some deadlines to keep the authors motivated. I offered 1-2- calls with each author.

*CLICK* I worked closely with each author to edit and improve their drafts throughout. Once the content was approved, we worked with an excellent graphic designer here in NZ to create a beautiful, completed PB.

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Typical MEDEA Policy Brief

And this is what we ended up with. This is a typical MEDEA PB. I’m not expecting you to be able to read this. I mainly wanted to give you a general overview. This one – Digital Metrology for Digital Health - ran to around 1500 words (excluding references). Some of the others are slightly longer, but they’re all in/around that range.

Split into sections, with clear headings, like “Key Messages”, “The role of metrology”, and “What should policymakers do?” Those headings allow us to set expectations for what is in each section. Makes it easier for the reader to scan quickly, and find what they need. The other PB that I handed out earlier - you’ll see that it follows that same structure.

I’m showing you this to highlight how efficient these documents can be – this one can be read in just a few minutes, but it’s packed with useful information, written in a way to appeal to the target reader.

And really, clarity of message should be the ultimate goal for any policy brief

However disappointing this may sound, a clear and easily-digestible policy brief is much more likely to be read and acted upon by your target audience than a dense, detailed, academic-style. report.

Sadly, I do not have enough time to teach you how to write a policy brief today – the training courses and mentorships ran for weeks! But I can give you a taste of how they work.

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Title	Up to 15 words
Key messages	Maximum of five, Up to 150 words in total
What’s the issue?	Max. 275 words
Why is this important?	Max. 225 words
The role of metrology	Max. 300 words
What should policymakers do?	Max. 275 words
Local example	Max. 275 words
References	~10 references

Our Policy Brief Template

Recommended total length: 800-1500 words

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The essential takeaways of your policy brief – your ‘elevator pitch’ to the reader (a policymaker)
Presented as bullet points, using simple language
Maximum of five
< 150 words in total

Key messages

Digital Metrology for Digital Health

Should be the first thing you focus on – they are the foundations of your policy brief ‘house’

KEY MESSAGES are used in lots of contexts – not just PBs. They’re useful in everything from developing a new talk to writing a business case.

They’re kind of like an abstract from a scientific paper, but there are some subtle differences. A lot of times they’re described as “the elevator pitch” to the reader.

KMs are the part of the document that if the rest of the content was deleted, could still stand on its own.

Alternatively, if a reader was so time-poor that they only had 2 mins available, the key messages should still give them a decent overview of the topic.

They generally presented as bullet points, to make them easy to scan. And I recommend no more than 5.

Key messages define the shape of the rest of the document, and provide support for everything else *CLICK* – that’s why I consider them the foundation of a PB

Because of this, Key Messages should be the very first thing you focus on when writing a PB, and the part you work hardest to finesse / perfect.

Writing effective Key Messages is harder than it looks and involves a lot of trial-and-error.

*CLICK* here are the KMs from that example policy brief I showed on screen.

READ THESE ALOUD

You can see, the language is simple,

We ended up with 4 x KM = just 78 words. But they say a lot!

Getting to their final form required a lot of work and a lot of time. They were repeatedly edited and rewritten over several stages.

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Read the brief and ask yourself

What are the FOUR top-level concepts or essential ideas that you (the reader) take away from this document?

What aspects of this document might be important to a typical policymaker?

e.g. real-word impacts, regulations, trade

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Turn to the person on your right

Discuss what you think are the most important ideas / points to take away from this document?

Could you draft some Key Messages based on that discussion?

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Share your Key Messages!

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“Real” Key Messages

You should now all be getting your hands on a copy of the complete PB, so I thought we could go through the ‘real’ KM together

Read aloud

Top line summary. Even if the reader knew nothing about rice moisture, they’ve now learned that it has a big impact on trade
This second point is more focused on the role of metrology
This one is about how policymakers could help (Malaysia focused PB)
Final one really makes a clear link between local metrology and global trade

Could potentially swap the order of the final two points?

I think these are a great set of key messages that nicely summarise the whole rest of the document – and hopefully you agree?

*CLICK* just as a final piece of ‘reverse engineering’, let’s look at where each of these KM are implicated in the body of the document.

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https://metrologyasiapacific.com/

So you want to know more about policy briefs…

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A summary of the communications training courses I ran for MEDEA
Written in simple language, and packed with information
Publication date: 22 November 2024
Freely available on the web portal

However, if you’d like to learn HOW TO WRITE policy briefs – or in fact, how to write Case Studies – you’ll need this document.

It’s a regional guideline that I’ve been working on for a few months now. It’s a – hopefully valuable – guide on how best to write about metrology for a range of different audiences.

*CLICK* I’ve tried to keep it as short and simple as possible while also packing it full of tips and information. If you follow it, it will help you to become a better writer, and will steer you through the process of producing these sorts of useful public-facing documents.

It is ALMOST done – I didn’t quite manage to finish it before this event, but it should be available on the web portal at the end of November. I’ll be sure to let the APLMF Executive Committee know as soon as it is published, so they can share it with you.

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Laurie Winkless

Winkless Science Storytelling / MEDEA

New Zealand

Thank you for your attention

winkless.training@gmail.com