The climate crisis and the pandemic have drawn public and academic attention to the role science and knowledge play for parliamentary processes, such as law making. The Institute for Law and Governance is actively involved in this important area of research.

On Monday, 26 June 2023, LawGov’s Teresa Weber participated in the First Day of Parliamentary Research at the Austrian Parliament giving a presentation on “Evidence, Impact Assessment and Constitutional Courts”. Through the lens of comparative constitutional law, she highlighted the role of constitutional courts in shaping evidentiary requirements for parliamentary processes. In addition, Teresa participated in a panel discussion (in German) on “Science-Policy-Interface und Parlamente: Wie kann ein kontinuierlicher Austausch gestaltet sein?”. Further information on the event is available on the website of the Austrian Parliament (in German).

On Tuesday, 27 June 2023, the Institute for Law and Governance hosted a workshop with Marc Geddes, political scientist at the University of Edinburgh. Marc shared his insights on “Locating and evaluating ‘evidence’ by committees in the UK House of Commons and beyond”, followed by a fruitful and constructive discussion.