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CSaP works with researchers to help prepare policy engagement plans and budgets when applying for funding. We are able to support researchers by drawing on our thriving network of Policy Fellows, and established ways of bringing together policy professionals and academics, to increase the policy impact of their work.
CSaP offers a wide range of standard and bespoke services to help researchers and policy makers engage in bringing research evidence and analysis to public policy. Contact us if you would like advice on building a policy engagement workstream into your research plan; or if you would like to discuss a Policy Lab process over a year or more, or a Policy Workshop format. This Policy Engagement Services document gives more information. Read below about some of our formats for engagement: Policy Workshops and Policy Fellowships. For further information, please email services@csap.cam.ac.uk.
Policy Innovation Fund
CSaP is now inviting applications for next round of Policy Innovation Fund (PIF). In collaboration with the University's Research Strategy Office, PIF offers awards up to £10,000 for Cambridge researchers to work collaboratively with policy partners to develop and carry out innovative policy engagement activities. Academics and researchers from any department or faculty at the University can apply for the PIF. Early Career Researchers (ECR) are also encouraged to apply. Project duration can be up to 9 months. Please read the guidance notes carefully before applying.
The completed application form should be emailed to pif@csap.cam.ac.uk by 17:00 on 30 June 2025.
For further consultation, please email Kavya Neeba (k.neeba@jbs.cam.ac.uk)
Policy Workshops
Policy Workshops aim to bring the expertise of interdisciplinary groups of researchers to bear on relevant policy issues. Workshops are a tried and tested formula for bringing policy makers from across relevant government organisations together with researchers and others from industry, learned societies and civil society, allowing highly effective knowledge exchange and network building. The standard cost of a Policy Workshop is £4,200 plus venue costs. We can also offer shorter and longer formats.
For further information, please email policyworkshops@csap.cam.ac.uk.
Policy Fellows
The CSaP Policy Fellowships programme provides a highly effective and well-regarded activity that delivers opportunities for decision makers from government and industry to forge useful and lasting connections with researchers. As part of our service, we are able to match Policy Fellows to your research project, providing an essential policy perspective on the work you do in order to maximise its impact. The standard cost within the Pathways to Impact section of a grant proposal of a Policy Fellow to be recruited to be associated with a research grant is £5,500, to cover CSaP time to identify the Policy Fellow and match them with a range of researchers.
Policy Engagement Network (PEN)
The Policy Engagement Network (PEN) aims to bridge the gap between academia and policy making by providing Cambridge academics and practitioners with relevant opportunities to share their knowledge and expertise with the policymaking community. This growing network interacts with the University’s wider Knowledge Exchange Network and regularly disseminates diverse policy engagement opportunities among doctoral students, researchers and knowledge exchange practitioners across the University.
Case studies
Members of our network - Policy Fellows and the academic experts they meet with - describe in their own words the impact CSaP's engagement programme has had on their work.