Getting started in policy engagement

Policy engagement covers a wide variety of ways in which researchers and academics connect to policymakers. It enables research to improve public policy by making the most of academic expertise, evidence and experience – offering a chance to maximise the impact of your work.

Before getting started, it may help to learn more about how government works and explore different government departments, agencies and public bodies.

In some cases, it can be immediately clear what steps you’d like to take to ensure your research has impact in the wider world and within policy making. In other cases, it is harder to know where to start.

Three of the most straight forward ways to have tangible impact are:

• Responding to Government Consultations on policy

• Submitting evidence to Select Committees

• Writing to the relevant Minister to brief them on your research

The CoSS Public Affairs team can help guide you in successfully engaging with policy. We offer a variety of resources as well as bespoke support with events, policy briefs, and more.

How to get started

• The CoSS Public Affairs team send out relevant inquiry opportunities to academics and researchers on our radar. To receive these opportunities, please register with our academic database.

• Review the rest of our resources and check out examples of policy engagement on our hub.

• The central public affairs team also send a regular Influencing Policy Bulletin email with opportunities. To be added to the mailing list, contact publicaffairs@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

Benefits of policy engagement

Policy engagement can have benefits for your career goals in addition to promoting your research. Engaging in policy allows you to build contacts for future research and funding opportunities, raise your profile in the media and government, and shows engagement and impact for promotion applications and REF.

Who are stakeholders?

Stakeholders are any individual, group or organisation who has:

• The power to change things in your field or

• The interest/desire to change things in the same direction as you or

• The ability to influence powerful people in your field.

A rough guide to the hierarchy of influence over policy is outlined in the diagram below. The Government, key Ministers and No. 10 are included at the top as they, arguably, have the most direct influence on legislation and policy. Oher bodies, stakeholders and processes are included lower down the pyramid as they have less formal influence. This pyramid is not exhaustive, but it may help give a rough sense of the political landscape.

The people at the bottom of the pyramid (thinktanks, All Party Parliamentary Groups, journalists) are more numerous and more likely have time to follow passions. However, they may have less power to make change. The people at the top might have the most power, but will be busier, harder to contact and less flexible in their public opinions. We recommend creating a few advocates or champions of your research at each level, starting at the bottom. One lower down contact can often open doors to those higher up, so a little bit of strategy can go a long way in getting your foot in the door.

The five golden rules

Keep these in mind when engaging with politicians, officials and other stakeholders in person or in written communications and briefs.

1. Relevancy: Stakeholders are often short on time. Within the first few minutes of meeting you, or the first few sentences they read in a document, stakeholders will want to know whether what you have to say is relevant to what they want to achieve. Tips for proving relevancy:

• Mirror stakeholder language. Framing your responses and communication in the same way as your audience can help them more easily relate to what you have to say.
• Focus on the sections of your research that are most relevant to who you are engaging with.

2. Empathy: Empathising with stakeholders, and what they are looking to gain from a situation, can help you to build more meaningful relationships and achieve impact through public affairs.

• Consider the time commitments of your stakeholders before seeking to organise a meeting, briefing or an event. Suggesting times that you know might have a higher chance of being suitable for a stakeholder can maximise your chance of achieving a meeting.
• Consider: ‘what is my offer’ as well as ‘what is my ask.’ When meeting with a stakeholder, think about what they may like to achieve from the meeting and what you could offer to do that could help them to achieve their objectives.

3. Practicality: How practical is it for Government, a Council, a Department or other institution to implement your policy recommendation or act on the findings of your research?

• Maximise your impact by segmenting your findings into smaller recommendations, some of which could be implemented in the short term, others in the medium to long term. This can identify ‘quick wins’, which have more scope to be implemented quickly and help to show that your research has had impact in the short term.
• Keep in mind the constraints that your stakeholders may be operating under, and what power or abilities they have. Are they a key decision-maker, or are they an important advocate who can share your recommendations? Shape what you ask of them accordingly.

4. Clarity: Stakeholders receive many written and verbal briefings every day. To stand out, your communication should be succinct, to the point and positive in tone.

•  Don’t make the mistake of going into too much depth on your research. Getting to the point quickly will allow you to maximise your impression on stakeholders with limited time and bandwidth.
•  Define your key messages into 3 to 5 points. Creating a policy brief can be a useful exercise in helping you achieve this.
•  Use accessible language. Remember, your stakeholders may not have the in-depth knowledge that you do on your topic. Avoid acronyms and jargon and use words and phrases found in a National broadsheet newspaper where possible.

5. Humility: Stakeholders and institutions have a range of objectives and pressures on their time. However supportive of your work they may be, achieving change can take time and stakeholders can be drawn in a number of different directions.

Contact

The team is happy to advise you on any policy engagement queries you may have.

Dedicated CoSS team:

• Hannah and Nick: H.Bradley.3@bham.ac.uk; n.j.i.brown@bham.ac.uk.