The COVID-19 pandemic and the conditions of uncertainty that surround it have led to an unprecedented demand for knowledge from Parliament and policymakers. In this post, Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange team (Sarah Foxen, Naomi Saint and Laura Webb) outline how researchers can engage and contribute to Parliament’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its wider impacts. … Continued
Category: Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
The academic conference is an underexploited space for stimulating policy impact
Despite often having an explicit policy focus, many academic conferences fail to produce policy briefs or even promote papers that are accessible to those working in policy. Sarah Foxen highlights the rich potential of academic conferences as fantastic sites at which to stimulate and facilitate policy impact, collecting all the academic and policy experts on a topic together in the same […]
“Cutting through”: overcoming the barriers to academic engagement with policy processes
A lack of access and poor communication are often cited as reasons why academic research is not widely used by policymakers. But what about the challenges for researchers engaging with decision-makers such as parliaments? Lindsay Walker, Lindsey Pike, Marsha Wood and Hannah Durrant have surveyed more than 400 research professionals and identified some clear barriers, with heavy workloads and a […]
Women academics and those from BAME backgrounds engage less with Parliament. But why?
Despite the current UK Parliament being more diverse than ever, it remains the case that academics who engage with Parliament are somewhat less representative. Women, those based outside London, and those from BAME backgrounds are significantly less likely to give evidence to select committees, for example. Sarah Foxen describes the drive across Parliament to address this problem and improve diversity […]
‘Rubbing shoulders’: an understanding of networks, relationships and everyday practices is key to parliamentary engagement
Relationships and networks have a big impact on parliamentary engagement. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for those academics looking to work with Parliament as part of disseminating their research. Marc Geddes, Katharine Dommett and Brenton Prosser outline why academics must be able to ‘rub shoulders’ with parliamentary staff, building shared understandings and personal trust which can circumvent common barriers around […]
The impact of UK academia on Parliament is cross-disciplinary but the ways researchers engage are narrow.
How does academic research feed into the parliamentary process? Analysing the impact case studies of the 2014 REF, Caroline Kenny draws out potential lessons on how Parliament is currently engaging with academics, and how it might in the future. Impact case studies referring to Parliament were found in all four of the main subject panels, but 45 per cent of […]