Policy research has generated profound insights on the policy process. However, the granularity of the policy sciences makes it difficult to integrate policy analysis into the ‘big questions’ facing the vision of the open society, such as democratic backsliding, corruption, the polarization of electorates, the de-legitimization of expertise, and the fault-lines between governments and citizens. By integrating different dimensions, from public health to the economy and human rights, the COVID-19 pandemic has urged our discipline to identify novel responses and new approaches to tackle the big questions. The future of the policy sciences must find an anchor in a reflection on our roles as researchers, questioning our vision, tasks, and role in society: what is a policy scholar for? This is for us, reflective scholars, the truly big question behind all the other ‘big questions’ that open societies face today. We outline the coordinates of a possible answer by looking closely at five key verbs that define the role of the policy scholar: learning, analysing, advising, empowering and reflecting. In the conclusions, we discuss the ways in which enabling these actions can expand our public policy imagination and professional relevance.
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