As a Standing Group of the ECPR, our aim is to provide a European perspective on public policy and policy process frameworks. While we are based in Europe, we are open to research from different world regions and aim to boost international discussions and networks to foster the community around policy research and to strengthen the network of scholars interested in the study of policy processes. As such, the Standing Group presents a collaborative platform open to all European researchers working in this field, bringing together scholars seeking to shed light on the entire policy process or particular aspects of public policy and policy-making, including – but not limited to – policy actors, networks, ideas, institutions, focusing events, and others. The Standing Group strives to facilitate communication among scholars studying the policy process, to enhance their capacity in better understanding of this process, and to inform the wider attentive public of its members’ scholarly work. This will encompass specifically (but not exclusively) the following areas: 

• surveying and assessing the current state of application — empirical, theoretical and methodological – in prominent theories of the policy process 
• stimulating conceptual innovation by facilitating dialogue and conversations between policy process frameworks and theoretical perspectives from the policy sciences, public policy, political science, public administration, etc. 
• fostering methodological innovation by facilitating dialogue and conversations between the methodologies used in the application of policy process frameworks and related methods from other disciplines, such as economics, public administration, psychology, and others 
• encouraging conceptualization of overlapping and complementary aspects to promote the generation of new research agendas 
• serving as a catalyst for developing joint research proposals 
• providing space to establish and foster communities addressing particular theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects of the policy process research 
• encouraging conversations, meetings and cooperation among particular communities addressing different aspects of the policy process 
• providing opportunities for networking for scholars sharing common theoretical orientations and interests 
• to enhance the practical relevance of policy process research in turbulent, complex and conflictual times characterised by ecological and migration crises, and the erosion of democratic institutions 
• to stimulate forms of policy process research that enhance the democratic quality of society 
• to foster exchange on teaching methods and promote best practice examples of teaching the policy process