The big university challenge: influencing policy

Published on May 25th, 2011

How can academics play a greater role in shaping government policy? How does engaging the policymaking community link to evaluating impact under the REF? And what happens if research findings deliver a raft of inconvenient truths that policymakers would rather ignore?

These were some of the key questions debated by academics, government advisers and third sector figures at a recent Developing and Assessing Impact for the REF event supported by HEFCE at Bournemouth University.

If academics want to inform the policy process then they should be talking to government advisers right at the beginning of the research process as opposed to solely at the end, said Professor James Goodwin, Head of Research at Age UK.

Goodwin emphasised the need for an “extremely focused” approach to using research to deliver impact, saying that strategic engagement of research users was critical.

He said: “Achieving impact is becoming an expert business. You need to develop it yourself or hire it in – and take the advice of people working in that field.”

Communicating research to policymakers is a real challenge that requires persistence and close relationships with those making the decisions on how the country is run, he said.

He quoted, without naming, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer as saying ‘I don’t need research. Either I know what it will tell me already or, if I don’t like it, I won’t use it.’

Goodwin said: “If you want to instigate change then you have got to talk to policymakers and find someone that understands you. The House of Lords is a good place to start – it’s full of people that have already made it in their careers so they tend to listen to you.”

Goodwin can speak with considerable authority. Age UK was recently voted Charity of the Year by members of the House of Commons and House of Lords in recognition of effective parliamentary campaigning.

Kathryn Monk, Science Strategy Manager for Environment Agency Wales, said policymakers were looking to academia to pursue a more active approach in getting research into the policy domain.

She said: “Many public service laboratories have closed down, resulting in less government scientists, so we expect more from universities. But things are going to have to change to allow this to happen.”

Universities need to communicate the benefits that research brings to society, particularly as policymakers are becoming “increasingly generic” and lack specialist knowledge, she said.

A question from the floor reflected the anxiety of many. What if a researcher produces research a government of a particular political persuasion doesn’t want to hear? Presumably it would be impossible to demonstrate impact?

Not so, said Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby, Professor of Social Policy at the University of Kent and Chair of the HEFCE REF Social Work and Social Policy Panel.

He said: “You have to ask: what impact does my research have on the debate?” Proving that research is helping to shape the debate relies on setting out a strong “chain of evidence”, he said.

“You need evidence – communications, statements of corroboration, references – that actors paid attention to the research and that it contributed to the public debate. Was it discussed in the media? Was it mentioned in the House of Commons?” he said.

The other option, of course, is to change the minds of the decision makers. According to Goodwin, who played a leading, and indeed lengthy, role in the government’s decision to scrap the default retirement age of 65, it is about “making people listen and banging the table hard.”

He said: “The good news is that policy can change quicker than you think … if the research is strong enough, it will have impact.”

As a member of the Social Work and Social Policy pilot panel, he also stressed: “It would be pretty mean of any assessor to say there is no impact in contributing to public debate.”

The government is not alone in making policy, pointed out Dr Mari Williams, Deputy Director of the Corporate Policy and Strategy Group at the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

As 2014 approaches, opposition parties will be interested in policy that presents an alternative view, she added.

Tags: hefce, impact, policy