The German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) has teamed up with WonkComms and Soapbox Design Agency to bring you a WebTalk Series on
Digital ThinkTanking in Times of COVID-19
With the coronavirus pandemic disrupting normal operations – forcing staff to work remotely, putting an end to face-to-face events, and sending legislators and governments home – think tanks are having to rethink their business on the fly. For an industry built around cross-sector and transnational cooperation, the resulting crisis verges on being an existential threat to its entire model. We need new approaches, and we need them fast.
With this WebTalk Series, DGAP, WonkComms, and Soapbox joined forces to bring the international think tank community together in order to better understand how we can continue and optimize our work under lockdown.
Hosts:
Claire Luzia Leifert, Head of the Impact & Innovation Lab, German Council on Foreign Relations
Joe Miller, Director of the Washington DC Studio, Soapbox Design Agency
Many think tanks have had to adapt their work considerably due to the pandemic and lockdown. Changes include the introduction of remote work for staff, shifting the research focus to account for disruptive change, translating face-to-face activities into online formats or postponing them until further notice, among others. These changed circumstances offer new opportunities, but also challenges with regard to the impact we can have on our audiences, policy processes, and outcomes.
In this edition, we discussed how to learn what our audiences need now and how to monitor our impact strategies in this special time. We explored how we can use the crisis as a moment for organizational learning and adaptive management to become more resilient in the future – and how to do all this remotely.
Watch the discussion of Dena Lomofsky, partner and senior consultant at Southern Hemisphere, and Claire Luzia Leifert for this special edition of our #DigitalThinkTanking series in cooperation with the Second OTT Online Conference 2020: Think Tanks & Technology.
Join the Conversation
For now, this event will concluded the #DigitalThinkTanking series. If you would like the series to continue after the summer and to suggest a topic or join a #DigitalThinkTanking event as a speaker, please contact Claire Luzia Leifert (leifert@dgap.org). Until then, please don’t hesitate to refer to the stimulating discussions we have had thus far and continue the conversation on Twitter using the hashtags #DigitalThinkTanking and #wonkcomms.
Access to Past Events
During previous #DigitalThinkTanking events, we’ve hosted experts from across our think tank community to share their tips and tools with us. Our topics have included how to bring face-to-face events online; how to break through the noise in an increasingly post-truth, crowded online environment; how political processes or the relationship between science and policy have changed due to COVID-19; how to create safer spaces for sensitive conversations online; and how to use data visualization in political communication. Watch the videos of all #DigitalThinkTanking events here.
