How to be an effective Boundary Spanner between energy policy and energy Social Sciences & Humanities communities

Reaching across policy and research boundaries is essential if low-carbon energy transformations are to be achieved. A Boundary Spanner is an individual/organisation that sits between traditional users and producers of knowledge; thus, Boundary Spanners can and do enable knowledge exchange between research and policy communities. However, despite much discussion of Boundary Spanners in certain literatures, the concept has been sparsely applied to issues of energy policy and governance. In fact, it has been altogether excluded from discussions of how Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) communities and energy policy actors can better work together towards common goals. This Perspective piece provides 12 recommendations for Boundary Spanners operating in these spaces, which we cluster into four themes: (i) Pay active attention to policy contexts of action; (ii) Use power to build bridges to different (and underrepresented) constituencies; (iii) Ensure institutions promote boundary spanning skill development; and (iv) Sensitively support the agendas of external colleagues. We hope this Perspective contributes to more attention being given to these relatively few Boundary Spanners, who work in the margins between policy and research, and also provides useful guidance on how they may do so.