Vincula Platform: invite researchers to a new digital network

The page created by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile tries to connect decision makers with generators of scientific knowledge. At the moment, only academics from associated institutions, such as the UCM, can open profiles on the new platform.

Offering a space to connect researchers with parliamentarians is the objective of a digital platform created by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, under the name “Vincula”.

The network, still under construction, has the collaboration of ten institutions, including the UCM.

“The idea is that academics and legislators create profiles on the platform, so they can contact each other and follow up on the discussion and approval of laws of interest,” said the initiative’s ambassador at the Catholic University of Maule, María Haydée Fonseca.

“In academia, incentives are more related to scientific productivity than to the regulatory environment and this means that many public policies are not supported by sufficient evidence. We all know that public policies that are based on scientific information have higher quality and credibility”, highlighted the also doctor in Economics and director of the School of Commercial Engineering of the campus.

“Vincula” has 263 records, including researchers, academics, representatives and senators. Fonseca invited the UCM community to join.

“The process is very simple. For example, I enter and put my full name, studies and lines of research. From there I can observe certain laws, receive alerts in my email, and contact the decision maker (…). For each law, the review commission appears and one can write directly to a member, ”he said.

The network also allows researchers to send messages to members of the Library of Congress Parliamentary Technical Advisory team and other scientists. Legislators, in turn, can also communicate with users of the platform.

“For a scientist to present the results of his research to a senator or representative, the mechanisms are very limited. Generally, those who are part of the networks are invited to the Congress and then the researchers themselves end up arriving. In this sense, ‘Vincula’ tries to serve as a bridge”, emphasized the ambassador.

The project, hosted at https://vincula.cl/is led by the academic from the Institute for Sustainable Development of the PUC, Dr. Francisca Reyes.