UCL Public Policy

Fantastic insights from my brilliant colleague Alice Tofts on the virtuous circle created through mechanisms like policy fellowships.

Last week civil servants from Department for Science, Innovation and Technology visited UCL as part of the university's partnership with WIG to explore the opportunities for greater collaboration in science and innovation. Learn more about how UCL is strengthening the connections between research and policy here: https://lnkd.in/eHy--3Dh Katherine W. Dr Olivia Stevenson Alice Tofts

Newsletter alert! Check out our final news bulletin of 2024, featuring the latest podcast news, funding calls and case studies! https://lnkd.in/gc95EhaM Make sure you sign up and stay up to date: https://lnkd.in/gyF7bQtY Wishing you all Happy Holidays!

Fantastic to see the impact of Areas of Research Interest (ARI) being highlighted here. This builds on important groundwork laid by the uk parliament Liaison Committee's call for more diverse evidence submissions, which really helped set this in motion. At the time, Sarah Chaytor and I submitted evidence via UCL Public Policy emphasising the need for more inclusive and varied engagement and we called for ‘Areas of Evidence Interest’ (which I’m pleased now to see as a name didn’t stick!). I’ve long followed ARI developments since but didn’t imagine back then how ARIs could evolve into the impactful tools we see today. It's brilliant to see CAPE and its Policy Fellows driving this forward across Parliament, the Senedd, and beyond. And If you don’t know what ARI’s are this video is a handy explainer!

As UK Disability History Month draws to a close this week, I’m thrilled to share the final report for my project on invisible illness and disability. Heads Together: Non-Visible Illness and Disability Community-Building facilitated interactive workshops with UCL staff experiencing chronic migraine, a neurological conditions which affects 1 million people in the UK. Through two disability justice workshops, this project created a supportive space for staff to express the cognitive and emotional load of working with non-visible disability. The report highlights the pragmatic and logistical issues faced by such staff – and how it feels to continue to mask the challenges of navigating these experiences in the workplace. Together we: 🎨Engaged in self-reflection on lived experiences of migraine using creative materials. 🔎Discussed what navigating the workplace with migraine entails. 🤝Explored and mapped the community and support available to those with migraine. 📝Suggested recommendations which would be more inclusive to these colleagues, as well as others working with invisible illnesses. Despite the variability of migraine as a condition, participants agreed on several tangible, feasible adjustments which would assist in managing migraine at work. They also responded very enthusiastically to the opportunity to connect with others and develop a sense of community – something which improves work, and life, for all of us. This piece of work is probably the closest to my heart that I’ve ever undertaken. I invite you to read and share the report, which features participant creations beautifully illustrated by Dr John Miers. I would love to hear feedback and comments particularly from those persevering through migraine and other invisible illnesses, and those who support them. You can find the report here: https://lnkd.in/eTfSKbhf UCL Grand Challenges UCL Public Policy #ukdisabilityhistorymonth #migraine #chronicmigraine #invisibleillness

We run policy fellowship schemes for UK Parliament professionals to spend time in UCL research departments or institutes. Interested in a scheme? Want to take part not sure where to start? Hear from academics and policy professionals who share their experience. “This fellowship has highlighted the importance of knowledge exchange between academic and parliamentary communities. Over the past month I have seen how academic research can inform decision making and address real world challenges. Events like the knowledge exchange meeting are useful, providing a forum to develop understanding and share advice.” Anastasia Lewis, Parliamentary Fellow 'Working with the Fellows has given us an important start in bridging the worlds of academic research and policy development.’ Professor Lynn Ang-Director and Vice-Dean Research at IOE - UCL's Faculty of Education and Society Alice Tofts Katherine W. https://lnkd.in/eWJJCfyY

How UCL Public Policy has developed our fellowship programme in response to collaborating with, and absorbing learning from, CAPE - Capabilities in Academic-Policy Engagement ⤵️ Since 2011 UCL Public Policy has operated a Fellowships Programme, placing academics in policy organisations. When the CAPE programme started in 2020 it drew upon the UCL Public Policy programme as a model to launch a muti-university and scaled-up research to policy fellowship programme.   CAPE provided hard evidence on the value that fellowships deliver, proved there was policy and research demand, but just how resource intensive they are in nature to administer.  In 2023 UCL Public Policy welcomed Alice Tofts as our new Policy Fellowships coordinator which has given us increased capacity to support Fellowships and to build in deep learning from CAPE across UCL. As part of her role Alice led a review of CAPE fellowships, and published a toolkit "Research to Policy Fellowships: Six Pillars for Optimising Success" which is available for all staff at UCL and anyone else who is interested in a policy fellowship. Alice has also been leading a new Policy Fellowship Network for professional staff across UK universities who support Fellowships to share learnings across the growing community. Find out more about the Research to Policy Fellowships: Six Pillars for Optimising Success toolkit ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/e3yWvmSt.

📑New resource alert! Collaborative funding can be a valuable tool for stimulating engagement between researchers and policymakers. Our new toolkit, "Awarding Funding for Collaborative Academic-Policy Projects" supports greater understanding of the value of collaborative projects in academic-policy engagement, and how to set up a funding stream to make such awards. You’ll find practical advice and ready-to-use templates to help you: ✅ Integrate collaborative techniques into project design and delivery ✅ Understand what a good application to a collaborative funding scheme looks like ✅ Build a funding process, from applications to evaluation ✅ Develop tailored application forms and scoring criteria Download: https://lnkd.in/efDRRaem This toolkit is based on CAPE's experience of delivering the CAPE Collaboration Fund from 2020-23 in which we awarded £424,000 for 20 collaborative projects and was co-written by CAPE team members Robyn Parker Dr Olivia Stevenson Sarah Chaytor Rafael C. Hana Morel Daisy Forster from feedback from our collaboration funds awardees.

New blog by Alice Tofts: What does a lack of institutional memory mean for the potential impact of academic- policy engagement activities such as Policy Fellowships? Civil servants and policy professionals often move between roles, creating challenges for academic-policy engagement efforts like Policy Fellowships. This mobility can disrupt networks, lose momentum on key issues, and complicate the long-term impact of collaborative outputs, especially with arising intellectual property (ARI). To address these challenges, we can: 1️⃣ Foster wide team engagement and knowledge sharing during Fellowships. 2️⃣ Build networks connecting researchers and policy professionals. 3️⃣ Create communities of practice to sustain collaboration. Read the full blog now on Medium now. https://lnkd.in/gpPnTUrG

Do you manage policy fellowships, placements, or internships for academics into policy organisations in your role? Last chance to book your place at our new Policy Fellowships Network. It is open to those working at the intersection of academia and policy, and offers a collaborative space for sharing best practices, forging new partnerships, and learning from others with similar responsibilities. Join us at 16 December at 2pm, where we will showcase examples from universities who are already running policy fellowship schemes. 🗓️16 December | 14:00-15:00 | Online Book your place: https://bit.ly/4eFPgQV Alice Tofts