Lobbying: An art and a science—Five golden rules for an evidence‐based lobbying strategy

In the battle for influence, public affairs professionals make crucial strategic decisions every single day. “Should we go public with this case?” “Who are we going to lobby, and how?” “Should we form a coalition with other organisations?” Public affairs professionals often make these decisions based on their experience or their gut feeling. In practice, lobbying is often more of an art than a science. It is an intuitive and creative process, rarely involving any insights rooted in science. And yet many public affairs professionals are faced with uncertainty about the added value of their activities. “Does what we do really matter?” “What kind of impact do we have?” “Are we making the right strategic decisions?” Some colleagues seek to compensate for these doubts with an overwhelming dose of self‐confidence. An experienced lobbyist recently said during a lecture: “The day I can measure my influence is the day I can double my rates.” Other public affairs professionals are a little more modest and try to assess their impact with key performance indicators. They systematically review the lobbying tactics used. This systematic approach has gained a lot of traction in recent years. The smoky back rooms, the cigars, and whisky of the past are now giving way to evidence‐based lobbying, based on facts, building a bridge between art and science of lobbying.     

Associations Between Psychosocial Well-Being,Stressful Life Events and Emotion-Driven Impulsiveness in European Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Knowing the extent to which mental well-being and stressful life events during adolescence contribute to personality characteristics related to risk-taking...     

Intimate Partner Violence Reports During the COVID-19 Pandemic First Year in Portuguese Urban Areas: A Brief Report

Journal of Family Violence - The COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about the exponential growth of intimate partner violence (IPV), both in numbers and severity. This brief report aims to describe...     

What really matters for TTOs efficiency? An analysis of TTOs in developed and developing economies

The Journal of Technology Transfer - The university’s role in reaping the benefits from research by transforming knowledge and technology into commercially usable forms is becoming...     

Neighborhood Socioeconomic Deprivation in Early Childhood Mediates Racial Disparities in Blood Pressure in a College Student Sample

The influence of childhood contexts on adult blood pressure is an important yet understudied topic. Using a developmental perspective, this study examines the association between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage in early childhood (0–5?yrs), middle childhood (6–12?yrs) and adolescence (13–18?yrs) on subsequent blood pressure in young adulthood. Data were from 263 college students (52% Black; M_age?=?19.21 years) and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was measured using a tract-level Area Deprivation Index. Neighborhood disadvantage in early childhood was significantly associated with diastolic blood pressure and explained 22% of the race difference between Black and White adults. The findings are consistent with the notion that early childhood may be a sensitive period for the effects of neighborhood disadvantage on blood pressure.

     

Nation-Building Narratives in Viet Nam: A Memoir on B-52s and Their Aftermath

In late 1972 (December 18-30), the Christmas Bombing of Hanoi in the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam by the U.S. Air Force took place. Three weeks later, the American author arrived and witnessed the destruction and how the Vietnamese had already fitted this 'Battle of the B-52s' into their centuries old narrative of resistance to foreign invasion. This article recounts the people and situations that he met on this visit and the ways Vietnamese of all kinds viewed the battle as a great victory for their land, one reinforcing their sense of past, present, and future.