In our second episode of CAPEcast, our podcast exploring different avenues of academic-policy engagement, Sarah Chaytor and Olivia Stevenson from UCL talk to Jonathan Lloyd of Waltham Forest Council and Hayley Sims, Islington Council (formerly of Waltham Forest) about our work supporting Waltham Forest to develop their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. We explore how researchers can help local councils have time and space to consider how to tackle structural inequalities against a backdrop of more immediate delivery priorities, particularly in the context COVID recovery.

We also chat about the difference between local authorities and national government in confronting local challenges, top tips for researchers who want to engage with local authorities, and how Waltham Forest are working to increase citizen engagement in their practices and what this means.