The Wales Centre for Public Policy at Cardiff University will benefit from a £5.9m multi-university project to develop the capacity of the Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) to drive academic-policy engagement across the UK.
UPEN is a UK-wide network of university-based public policy engagement units, of which WCPP is a core member and this investment from Research England with additional funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and UKRI, will enhance and sustain the infrastructure needed within UPEN to connect academic evidence with policy making.
As part of the project, WCPP will be working with partners across UPEN to lead the development of a community of practice on knowledge mobilisation and impact which will bring together knowledge mobilisers from across the UK university sector and beyond to share best practice for and strengthen capacity for academic policy engagement.
WCPP Director Professor Dan Bristow said, “It’s exciting to be collaborating with other knowledge mobilisers from across the UK in this way to further bridge the gap between academic research and public policy.
“This funding boost will enable UPEN to spearhead efforts nationally to drive better use of academic evidence by policy makers and will boost the profile and ability of organisations such as ours to deliver impact and support Welsh policy makers in tackling critical policy challenges.”
WCPP Senior Research Fellow Dr Hannah Durrant, who is UPEN vice-chair added, “WCPP has developed a unique model to support local and national policy makers in Wales, but it is vital we are part of a wider network to continually test and improve our knowledge mobilisation methods and practices and share our increased understanding as part of Cardiff University’s research community.”
Professor Dame Jessica Corner, Executive Chair of Research England, said:
“The need for reliable evidence which can inform public debate and policy has never been greater. With increasing pressure on public finances, it is also vital that local and central governments can be confident that their policy interventions will be effective and successful – and academic expertise has a crucial role to play in that process.”
Research England has invested £5million into this project with the ESRC providing £300,000 to support participation of universities across the UK in UPEN Programmes, while a further £582,000 has been awarded through UKRI’s strategic theme, ‘Creating Opportunities, Improving Outcomes’ to develop work on regional evidence needs.
UPEN is co-chaired by UCL’s Sarah Chaytor, Professor Andrew Brown, (University of Leeds) and Dr Chris Hewson (University of Huddersfield) and the universities involved in this programme alongside WCPP (Cardiff University) are: UCL, the Universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Durham, Huddersfield, Insights North East, Leeds, Nottingham Trent, Southampton, Teesside,
UPEN will also work with the Institute for Community Studies, the Institute for Government, and Yorkshire Universities signalling the importance of collective activity for effective policy engagement.
Over the next four years, UPEN’s programmes of work will include:
- Improving UK universities’ ability to engage with policy organisations and policy makers
- Supporting place-based policy making by strengthening engagement between universities, regional, and local policy organisations
- Embedding citizen engagement and community-driven approaches to policy making
- Creating more sustainable and resilient engagement models