Tagged / Influencing parliament

Policy Influencing training sessions

BU research, ECR Network, Impact, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, parliament, policy, Training, writing

Time is often a barrier stopping colleagues from using their research to influence policy. These training sessions are designed with the ‘doing’ built into the training day. Each programme will help you move onto the next step and produce some of the key materials to influence policy with your research. So when you get back to your desk we aim for you to feel ready to push the ‘send’ button! There’s a choice of half day, full day and multi session programmes and all sessions will be delivered online by Carys Davis, Director of The Other Place Public Affairs.

We particularly urge colleagues who do not have a ‘ready to go’ policy brief for their research to attend a session.

Email Sarah to book a session (state the name of the training course in the subject line of the email).

See here for the full details of each training course. Brief details below:

Policy into practice: from academia to influence – NOW POSTPONED, UPDATES COMING SOON (DO EMAIL TO EXPRESS INTEREST)

This is our flagship multi-session programme aiming to inform and support colleagues to produce content ready to share their research with policy makers and wider audiences. You’ll create three outputs – a policy brief, an elevator pitch and a set of recommendations based on your research. During the mentoring you’ll work with the expert trainer to ensure your content is ideal for political audiences. More details here.

 *There are limited spaces available on this training session because it is an intensive support model including bespoke mentoring.*

Session 1 (full day) – Tuesday 10 May, 10-16:30; session 2 is a 1:2:1 mentoring session (choice of dates/times); session 3 is a half day on Tuesday 7 June 09:15-12:45. Colleagues must be able to commit to all three sessions.

Introduction to Parliament and Policy Influencing – Wed 8 June

A full day training session which covers the knowledge and skills to begin policy influencing. More details here.

Wed 8 June, 10:00-16:30

International Researchers – Introduction to Parliament and Policy Influencing – Mon 13 June

A full day session specifically for international colleagues. This introduction covers the need-to-know essentials and will fill in gaps for colleagues less familiar with the British political system. While the training will cover more background knowledge it is still focussed on getting colleagues started with policy influencing. More details here.

Monday 13 June, 10:00 – 16:30

Moving from academic form to effective policy writing – Fri 10 June (morning)

A half-day session: Friday 10 June, 09:30-13:00

Changing from academic form to policy writing can be challenging and may need a different approach. This session introduces colleagues to short form policy style and provides templates to get you started. This training also includes expert feedback after the session on your final policy piece.  More details here.

Effective policy presentations – Tue 21 June (afternoon)

A half day session: Tuesday 21 June, 13:00-16:30

What do policy makers want from a research presentation? How do colleagues grab interest, open dialogue and establish relationships? More details here. Again there is expert feedback after the session on your final output.

Email Sarah to book your place.

The Government’s Areas of Research Interest

policy

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) have released a new opportunity for research colleagues:

In April POST ran a survey of experts on the COVID-19 outbreak expert database that resulted in the publication of syntheses about the future effects of COVID-19 in different policy areas. From this survey POST developed Parliament’s first Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) which are lists of policy issues or questions that policymakers are particularly interested in.

Currently only the ARIs which are linked in some way to Covid have been released. However, they are not all health based and touch on a range of themes from crime, economics, inequalities, trade, supply chains, mental health, education, sustainability across several sectors, and so on.  Do take the time to look through the full question list to see if it touches upon your research area.

Alongside the publication of the ARIs is an invitation to experts to add current or future research relevant to the topics to a repository that Parliament may use to inform future policy making and Parliamentary work. Research with relevant research across any of the disciplines are invited to submit their work.

BU colleagues are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this rare opportunity to present their research to policy makers. The Policy team is here if you need any help. If you’re ready to go please do respond to the call directly, afterwards please let both the Policy team and your faculty’s Impact Officer know that you have responded.