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CSaP Policy Fellows joined the Behavioural Insights Team and researchers from the University of Cambridge Policy Research Group to discuss techniques for communicating research to facilitate its application in policy.
Reported by Tatiana Vilsbol Jorgensen and Dr Clare Moran
In March, our regular monthly meeting of CSaP Policy Fellows was hosted at the London offices of the Behavioural Insights Team by Policy Fellow Katy King, with BIT Chief Executive Dr David Halpern. We were joined by our guest speaker, Dr Kai Ruggeri, Director of the Policy Research Group at Cambridge, who introduced initial work by the group in developing a new technique for communicating research insights from psychology to policy stakeholders. The report was created from contributions of interns participating in the unique Junior Researcher Programme. Dr Ruggeri presented their recent Insights for Impact report, and explained the group's protocol for assessing and communicating the degree of evidence behind any insight, using a colour-coded scale.
With 50 or so policy professionals attending from among the Behavioural Insights Team and the CSaP Policy Fellowship, there was a wide-ranging discussion during the Q&A that considered the role of government as not just a user, but a generator of research. Beyond the large volumes of data that government routinely collects, in-house research being conducted within government - such as through randomised controlled trials of new policies - is a rich source of insights that could constitute the basis of further research by academics. The distinction between research in policy and academia seems increasingly blurred, with recent BIT research having been published in mainstream peer-reviewed academic journals. Greater collaboration is also blurring the distinction between producers and users of research.
Attendees gave examples of the benefits generated by mechanisms that allow researchers and policymakers to develop relationships, such as secondments for doctoral students into government departments, and the networking acticities provided by CSaP. Attendees also advocated for the potential benefits of including a broader range of stakeholders in the analysis and interpretation of data, potentially generating inceasing the reliability of analysis and increasing consensus on recommendations, and hence the likelihood of their adoption.
We are grateful to Katy King for hosting this lunch, which was the latest in a series of monthly working lunches that are available to participants in the CSaP Policy Fellowship.
Banner image from Flickr