Making research connections through policy advocacy
Research Understanding and Research Use (RURU) is based in the Business School with a history of policy engagement and studying how policymakers engage with research. RURU is part of the Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) hub funded by the ESRC, Innovate UK and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
The hub brings together a network of people who have delivered engagement, impact, and translational research and is designed to support universities and their local partners through LPIP to produce evidence that will meet the needs of their communities.
The hub is led by the University of Birmingham’s City Region Economic and Development Institute (City-REDI) and has been awarded £3.6m over 44-months, from June 2023
RURU Director Vicky Ward and Associate Mark Monaghan published a report on parliamentary mechanisms for engaging with academic research.
The report expands the narrow, geographical boundaries of previous work to provide a more inclusive picture of research use by parliaments and challenge previous framings of research provision. It shows that many parliaments across the world have large-scale and advanced infrastructure for accessing and harnessing research evidence. This is not restricted to the advanced democracies of the global north where the knowledge economy is commonplace but is also a prominent feature of parliaments in the global south.
Robust, high-quality outputs and materials produced by highly skilled and qualified staff guided by a strong commitment to impartiality are a hallmark of most services, particularly those within Commonwealth parliaments. Whilst challenges remain, the landscape of parliamentary services appears to be strong and, in many cases, growing.