Building Research and Policy Connections: Training and Career Options for Developmental Scientists

RESEARCHERS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES have long emphasized the importance of bringing their shared knowledge and skills to bear on significant social problems. This was the vision that gave rise, in 1924, to the Committee on Child Development, and seven years later, to the establishment of the Society for Research in Child Development (Hagen, in press). Today this philosophical position is expressed in “applied developmental science.” Developmental science refers to the study of systematic and successive change in individuals over the lifespan (Fisher, Murray, et al., 1993). This discipline recognizes the ongoing interaction between biological development and the physical and social environment. It investigates change within the individual and between individuals. Normative developmental patterns provide the basis for understanding both typical and atypical development. Applied developmental science pertains when the aim is not just to understand but to intervene in social problems. As students in developmental science, we find many young developmental scientists seeking opportunities to apply developmental principles in this manner; they are interested in forging careers that blend their research training with social policy concerns. At the 1995 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, an invited conversation hour led by several graduate students focused on the link between developmental science and social policy and the types of skills and training needed to integrate the two. Following the meeting, further conversations ensued both within this group and with exemplars in the field, professionals who are currently bridging the gap between science and policy. This report elaborates the major themes from these discussions: