Effectively connecting experts and expertise with public policy is crucial for evidence-informed decision-making. However, ensuring this process is truly inclusive, reflecting the full diversity of knowledge and experience, presents a significant, often overlooked, challenge for the organisations and individuals who bridge these worlds.

At CAPE, our work has focused on making these vital connections. While reviewing our own programmes and Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) data, we began to question how equitable our matching practices were. This guide was created to address this challenge head-on, sharing the lessons from our experience and the questions we grappled with.

Developed collaboratively with knowledge mobilisers, this resource was shaped directly by user feedback gathered through prototype testing and facilitated discussions. It offers a practical framework and reflective questions to help others embed inclusive practice into their work. Highlighting that inclusivity is a continuous journey, not a final destination, this guide calls for a conscious, shared commitment to building more equitable systems for connecting knowledge to policy.

We’ve created this guide to:

• Support knowledge mobilisers to go beyond ‘usual’ strategies to identify people and expertise within universities for policy engagement in ways that are inclusive and purposeful.
• Improve the transparency of processes for academic-policy engagement. For example, it could be used to initiate team discussions and inspire new ways of working with colleagues or organisationally.
• Enable shared learning and reflective practice to build collective understanding and action to strengthen the academic-policy engagement ecosystem.

Within this guide you’ll find practical methods to do this, guidance on when to use each approach, and key considerations and implementation and potential benefits.