ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between academic research on
sustainability and government sustainability policy. It addresses the difficult
question of how researchers can actively influence policy while maintaining
their academic independence and rigour. This is a particularly topical subject
because the UK’s Higher Education Councils are consulting on plans to
radically overhaul the way they assess the academic community, including
proposals for new ‘impact’ indicators to measure the contribution of research
and researchers to public policy-making (HEFCE, 2009). Accordingly, pressure
on the academic community to engage with policy-makers is likely to increase
significantly over the coming years.
