CAPE - Capabilities in Academic-Policy Engagement

📑We're pleased to be publishing today our latest resource for policy organisations: “Areas of Research Interest - A Practical Guide”. ❓ What are Areas of Research Interest? Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) are tools that help policy organisations understand their research priorities, address knowledge needs, and communicate more effectively with the academic community. They are public statements expressions of evidence needs. ❓ How can this guide help? Designed for policy professionals, our guide walks you through the stages of developing Areas of Research Interest, provides case studies from leading examples, and tips on how to use your Areas of Research Interest productively. Plus we provide some practical and flexible tools to use along the way. Find out more ➡️https://lnkd.in/euXvHpbV This guide was written by CAPE Policy Fellows Max French and Melissa Hawkins from Northumbria University and is part of CAPE's work to extend Areas of Research beyond Government Departments with input from Leeds City Council Newcastle City Council The North East Combined Authority Alex Black.

Areas of Research Interest (ARI) are public expressions from policy organisations of research priorities and evidence needs. Find out how CAPE has supported their use in Parliament, the Senedd, The Scottish Parliament and beyond. Featuring CAPE Policy Fellows Nicola Buckley, Rob D., team member Jenny Hasenfuss, and colleague Hannah Johnson, working across POST, UK Parliament, Senedd, The Scottish Parliament,The North East Combined Authority

New Event! The first session from the Government Office for Science will explore how they “put excellent scientific advice at the heart of decision making” for UK Government. In this event, you'll learn more about how GOS achieves their mission and the routes to engagement with government they support and advertise.   📍 21st Jan, 15:30 - 16:30 (Online)   https://lnkd.in/erxjApYH

For the past four years UCL Public Policy has led CAPE - Capabilities in Academic-Policy Engagement, a multi-partner project exploring what works in supporting engagement between universities and policy. At UCL we've used CAPE published toolkits to build critical policy engagement skills, knowledge and "know-how" with our researchers. We've delivered capabilities sessions across UCL, including with UCL Innovation & Enterprise and the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences. Here's our top three CAPE resources we recommend for UCL academics and professional services staff: 1) Research to Policy Fellowships: Six Pillars for Optimising Success ➡️ to support placements of academics into policy organisations. 2) Developing partnerships & projects between universities and policy partners: a project scope template ➡️for academics to plan collaborative projects 3) Co-production in regional academic policy engagement: developing optimal conditions, produced with Co-Production Collective, UCL ➡️ for guidance on how to do co-production well with partners Link to all of CAPE resources: https://lnkd.in/e7kUms25 All CAPE resources remain accessible on the CAPE website after CAPE and are also available on the Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) website. Rafael C. Robyn Parker Dr Olivia Stevenson Katherine W. Alice Tofts

💭“Our focus on collaboration proved a powerful enabler of engagement. It also served to help our project, and our institutions, to become more than the sum of our parts.” ⤵ In our latest essay, Why Collaboration is Critical in Academic-Policy Engagement, CAPE lead Sarah Chaytor explores the benefits of collaborating in a multi-institutional project and the ways in which we've embedded it. She suggests three approaches to support and strengthen collaborative approaches across our ecosystem: ✔️Sustainable and collaborative relationships with policy partners ✔️Building capacity for collaboration ✔️Multilateral approaches to academic-policy engagement ✔️Stronger coordination and collective convening across the academic-policy ecosystem Read in full ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ekFeUyje Too many collaborators to mention everyone in full here but our core CAPE team & partners: UCL Public Policy Policy@Manchester University of Nottingham Institute for Policy and Engagement Northumbria University Government Office for Science POST, UK Parliament Nesta

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is looking for a new Chief Scientific Adviser to lead on science advice for the Department. More information about this exciting role here: https://lnkd.in/e-CqCgHg

📑 New CAPE Report launched today: 'Improving Conditions in Islington - Tackling Work-Based Harms and Improving Unionisation'. The report highlights key employment issues that workers in Islington face, and how the council can partner with trade unions to address poor working conditions in their area.  Originating in a series of roundtables between CAPE and Islington Council on 'good work' in 2021, the project expanded to become a CAPE Policy Challenge Fund, which provided policy organisations with an opportunity to pose specific challenges for researchers to tackle. For this challenge CAPE & Islington Council partnered with academics Bob Jeffery (Sheffield Hallam University) and David Etherington (University of Staffordshire). 🫱🏼🫲🏾 For us, this project shows how researchers and local government can collaborate in order to respond to local challenges and underlines the value of longer-term exploratory relationships in academic-policy engagement. For the report, executive summary, and key stats document see ➡️https://lnkd.in/e59nDRvG

Sign up! 🆕 Join us to hear about the CAPE - Capabilities in Academic-Policy Engagement and Northumbria University report, ‘Areas of Research Interest: A Practical Guide’, on the key steps involved with taking an ARI from ambition to action and a roundtable discussion on using ARIs in policymaking and knowledge exchange. This event will be of relevance to anyone with an interest in ARIs, policy engagement, public service reform and the research-policy landscape. 🗓️ 10th December, 12-4.30pm 📍 In person at The Common Room, Newcastle Upon Tyne ✍️ https://lnkd.in/eX_im9ks

Over the past four years, the Institute for Policy and Engagement at the University of Nottingham has been a proud partner of CAPE (CAPE - Capabilities in Academic-Policy Engagement. Together with four other universities, we have worked to deepen our understanding and enhance academic-policy engagement across diverse geographical and policy contexts in England. As this transformative project draws to a close at the end of 2024, we recently convened to reflect on our collective achievements and distil the valuable lessons learned. These insights will be crucial for knowledge mobilisers who will carry forward this mission, continuing to foster impactful connections between research and policy. Read here: https://lnkd.in/ek5cwvRt

What role does knowledge mobilisation play in the research-policy ecosystem? Join our online event on Wednesday 4th December at 1pm, part of IPPO’s series on Innovations in Evidence, with Dr Vicky Ward from the Researching and Understanding Research Use (RURU) Network, Kate Morris from the Irish Universities Association and Dr Hannah Durrant from Wales Centre for Public Policy | Canolfan Polisi Cyhoeddus Cymru. Read More 👉 https://lnkd.in/gh5T6hFE Sign up 👉 https://bit.ly/4fyhhe4