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Mackinac Center Director of Research Michael Van Beek traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia, in September to train international allies on how to publish high quality policy research. While we focus on Michigan issues, the Mackinac Center for decades has supported the broader liberty movement by offering support and insights to think tanks around the world.
The Atlas Network, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that partners with and connects think tanks worldwide, tapped Van Beek to help teach a course on conducting and publishing public policy research. Van Beek manages the Mackinac Center’s publication process and has produced hundreds of reports over the last decade.
Twenty-five participants signed up for the course, which featured online training modules and a three-day workshop in Jakarta. They came from Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and other locales. These hardworking students spent more than 20 hours together refining their skills in crafting research questions; collecting and analyzing data; and drafting, editing, peer-reviewing and publishing the results.
Van Beek revealed best practices the Mackinac Center has developed over the years for producing policy reports. Project leaders should establish quality controls to ensure data and results are accurate. Experts need to write first-rate prose that is easy for nonexperts to understand. Publications ought to feature high-quality graphics and design, because their goal is to persuade policymakers and the public through professional, attractive and factually correct products.
Participants offered enthusiastic feedback, with several noting that the training will help them get started with producing quality research. Each participant developed a research plan for a future policy report during the workshop, so the training will produce tangible benefits for these think tanks.
The Atlas Network is offering two more of these trainings in 2026: one for think tanks in Latin America and another for those in Africa. “I look forward to participating in both workshops and helping our friends at free market think tanks around the world develop and improve their research capabilities,” Van Beek said.
