In this case study, CAPE Policy Fellow Darren Sharpe, Senior Research Fellow from the University of East London, discusses his work on participative democracy with Newham Council, London. He explores how his Policy Fellowship with Newham is experimenting with different ‘demonstrator’ projects to include marginalised voices in the policy making process better.

In September 2022, two Senedd committees launched the Senedd’s first Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) as a new way to improve committees’ engagement with the research community. ARI topics include climate change, modal shift and active travel, sustainable communities, and health literacy. In this blog Rob Davies, CAPE Policy Fellow, outlines how researchers can engage with the ARIs and how they aim to support parliamentary scrutiny.

CAPE is pleased to see the launch of the Yorkshire & Humber Policy Engagement & Research Network (Y-PERN) which has been awarded £3.9m of funding from the Research England Development (RED) fund.

When we think of the current research-policy ecosystem in the UK, what image does it conjure? Some may picture an archipelago; islands of research-policy engagement initiatives separated by surrounding waters. What if we could better connect these islands so that resources can be shared and communities can learn from each other more easily?

CAPE team members reflect on the key insights that emerged from a workshop that sought to explore the development of a more mature engagement ecosystem.

Following a connection made through a CAPE Fellowship, anthropologist Kelly Fagan Robinson and policy officer Imogen Resnick discuss the initial findings from the Anthropology By Children (ABC) pilot in schools. They explore what they have learned together about the ways in which inclusive research can provide a rich foundation for successful collaboration between academics and policy-makers and a better future for participants.

CAPE has been running for two years now, and in that time we have observed interactions between our policy engagement mechanisms which we did not necessarily anticipate at the outset. We’ve developed a typology of these interactions which we hope can provide valuable insights into how having multiple, connected project mechanisms can support academic-policy engagement.

Across Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and in policy domains, there has been increased support for and investment in knowledge mobilisation activities and roles. At a time in which funding decision makers and awardees need to evidence the value of investments, questions arise: what is knowledge mobilisation, what does it do and why does it need investing in? Through our work in CAPE, we are seeking to contribute insight into the ways that academic policy engagement is enacted through knowledge mobilisation. We reflect on what our experience of knowledge mobilisation practice collaboratively and at scale tells us, and why a deeper appreciation of the way it works at systemic levels might be useful for the sector as it develops.

From September 2021 – April 2022 we ran three funding calls for our CAPE Collaboration Fund and awarded £400,000 for co-production projects between academics and policy partners. While our projects are ongoing, we explore what we funded, what made for strong applications, and share our recommendations for writing an application for a collaborative project with policy professionals.

Elizabeth Lomas, CAPE Policy Fellow with DCMS, is working on the update to the department’s 2018 Areas of Research Interest document. She shares with CAPE how DCMS is developing these and her reflections on the process so far.

Many of us run knowledge exchange events to support academic policy engagement, but can we articulate easily why and how they are important? Following a CAPE Sharing Session, we reflect on what we learnt about what works when running knowledge exchange activities.