30. October 2025 | Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour, Faculty of Philosophy, Seminar für Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, Education, School, and Behaviour, Knowledge, Spaces, and Media, Research

"Policy Ultra Briefs" – New Bridges Between Research and Practice

Political actors are often under great time pressure and have to make decisions on increasingly complex issues. However, decision-makers often lack the time for in-depth research on practical issues. The new "Policy Ultra Briefs" series by scientists from the fields of psychology and related behavioural sciences is intended to offer them easy access to scientific findings relevant to them in the future with short, concise summaries. The aim is to strengthen the dialogue between science and politics and to provide parliaments, ministries and journalists, who accompany these processes as the fourth estate, with social and behavioural science expertise for the concrete shaping of a sustainable society.

A total of twelve articles will be published in the first series, which focuses on the topic of "climate protection" and starts on 30 October. In terms of content, they address key questions in the context of socio-ecological transformation – from fundamental psychological findings such as "When and why do people support climate policies?" to concrete application scenarios: "How can climate communication be designed to be heat and health conscious? What helps against disinformation in the context of climate protection?".

The new format provides compact and comprehensible information, clearly structured and in accessible language. The articles are scientifically sound – written by experts and based on the latest behavioural science research, which is transparently classified using a colour-coded evidence scale. They focus on practice-relevant topics with concrete options for action. Last but not least, the quality of the articles is ensured by a scientific peer review process.

The “Policy Ultra-Briefs” are to be published at regular intervals on the website “Policy Ultra-Briefs from Psychology and Related Behavioural Sciences” (https://psychologie.de/), which is operated by the Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID), the German Psychological Society (DGPs) and the Professional Association of German Psychologists (BDP), and distributed or linked via participating networks. Further series on socially relevant topics are already in preparation.

"The social and behavioural sciences have developed many findings that provide valuable impetus for shaping change and the major social challenges of our time," explain the editors Professor Wilhelm Hofmann (Ruhr University Bochum), Dr Ann-Katrin Hosch (University of Bremen), Jean-Henri Huttarsch, M.Sc. (Research Institute for Sustainability, RIFS, Potsdam), Professor Ellen Matthies (Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg), Professor Eva-Lotta Brakemeier (University of Greifswald) and Professor Cornelia Betsch (Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour at the University of Erfurt). "With the Policy Ultra-Briefs, we now want to build new bridges between research and practice."

“Policy Ultra Briefs” website