A decade on from the foundation of the What Works Network, an initiative designed to improve the use of social scientific evidence in the design and delivery of public services in the UK. Michael Sanders and Jonathan Breckon discuss their effectiveness…
Category: policymaking
Are universities too slow to cope with Generative AI?
Similar to other ed-tech trends, generative AI has led to a lively debate and divide between those boosting the potential disruptive nature of the technology and more critical perspectives. Mark Carrigan argues that as generative AI is already making i…
A new science of wellbeing will change policy and decision making
What produces a happy society and a happy life? Richard Layard and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve suggest that through the new science of wellbeing, we can now answer this question empirically. Explaining how wellbeing can be measured, what causes it, and how it…
Navigating co-design and nudge: Evidence and expertise in practice
In a previous blogpost Colette Einfeld and Emma Blomkamp argued bringing together nudges and co-design in practice illuminated fundamental differences underlying these approaches. Reflecting on a project to improve healthy food choices in a hospital se…
Surveying the landscape of UK University policy engagement – What are we doing differently and why?
Universities have only relatively recently started to invest in professional services relating to research communication, the impact agenda and in so doing policy engagement. Drawing on a survey of policy engagement functions in UK higher education ins…
Autonomous nudges and Ai Choice Architects – Where does responsibility lie in computer mediated decision making?
AI and algorithms shape many aspects of our everyday life, from the familiar algorithms structuring our social media feeds, to those subtly transforming more complex fields, such as policymaking and commerce. Stuart Mills argues that as these choice ar…
Book Review: A Handbook for Wellbeing Policy-Making by Paul Frijters and Christian Krekel
In A Handbook for Wellbeing Policy-Making, Paul Frijters and Christian Krekel offer a new guide to wellbeing-driven public policy, focusing on the proposal to replace GDP with wellbeing as the key metric to assess societal progress. With the book compr…
How can researchers influence policy when their work lies outside the political mainstream?
The premise of postgrowth research is that environmentally sustainable wellbeing should replace GDP growth as the cornerstone of public policy. This interest in a transition beyond the existing parameters of ‘political reality’ means such research face…
Quick, but not dirty – Can rapid evidence reviews reliably inform policy?
The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented and time critical demand for policy relevant evidence syntheses and in so doing demonstrated how timely evidence reviews can shape policymaking. As the policy crisis of COVID-19 recedes, research is underw…
Politics and expertise: How to use science in a democratic society
The Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of scientific advice to modern policymaking. But how can the use of expertise in politics be aligned with the needs and values of the public? Drawing on a recent book, Zeynep Pamuk sets out a new mode…