There are many ways to get your research in front of government, from a written submission to a longer-term secondment. Eve Little, Research Impact and Engagement Manager at the UK Data Service, maps out the main routes in and the resources that can help along the way.
No single route for engaging your research with government is the “right” one. The best fit depends on your research, your career stage and how much time you can commit.
Some routes involve a quick, one-off commitment. Others build into a longer-term relationship with policymakers.
This post outlines some of the main routes into policy engagement, alongside practical advice and resources to help get you started.
Areas of Research Interest
Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) are documents published by UK Government Departments, agencies and arm’s length-bodies.
They set out the topics and questions where a department wants evidence, collaboration or further research to inform policy or operational decisions. In short: they tell you what the government actually wants to hear about.
You can search all published ARIs using the ARI Database. It’s a quick way to check whether your research speaks to a live departmental priority.
The UK Government Office for Science recommends:
- Keeping an initial response short – three or four bullet points on your relevant expertise or research is usually enough to start a conversation.
- Checking the department is still actively working on the question before you respond.
Calls for evidence
Government departments regularly issue calls for evidence, inviting experts to feed in on specific topics. It’s one of the most direct ways to put your research in front of the people developing policy.
Parliamentary select committees run their own, separate call for evidence process. Treat these as distinct departmental calls – the process, audience and timelines differ, and each is worth approaching on its own terms.
When submitting written evidence, keep it concise, use clear sub-headings, avoid jargon and respond directly to the terms of reference set out in the call. Committees receive a high volume of submissions, and evidence that is easy to navigate is more likely to get read in full.
You don’t need to be an established policy expert to contribute. If the question closely matches your research, your specialist knowledge may be exactly what the call is looking for.
Outreach and networking
Not all policy engagement starts with a formal submission. Often, it starts with a conversation.
The Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) connects university-based policy centres and researchers, sharing opportunities, events and resources across the sector.
The Policymakers Lab at Warwick Business School is one example of a research group that has built a proactive channel between academic work and policy audiences.
CLOSER Policy Surgeries offer free, one-to-one consultations with CLOSER’s policy engagement team, which was discussed in a Data Impact blog post. They can help you identify relevant consultations and inquiries, give feedback on an engagement plan and advise on which channels are most likely to lead to impact for your specific research.
The UK Data Service Data Impact Fellowship scheme is designed to support early career researchers in developing the skills and network to translate their research into impact – through engagement with audiences outside of academia, including policymakers. We have just launched applications for our 2027-2028 cohort of Data impact Fellows.
It can also help to see engagement from the other side. The Government Office for Science’s Academic Engagement Toolkit was written for civil servants wanting to engage with academics, but it is useful for researchers too. It sets out how policy teams approach working with academics, what they’re looking for, and what makes a collaboration work well from their end.
Before you start, ask yourself six questions
Finding an opportunity is only the beginning. Before approaching a policymaker or submitting evidence, it’s worth thinking about what you want to achieve.
The National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) has a helpful guide to working with policymakers, built around thinking through six questions:
- What is your key message with relevance for policy?
- Why is this important for policy?
- Who has the power to make a difference?
- When to engage?
- Where to engage?
- How to engage?
Learn from example
Reading a how-to guide is one thing. Seeing what these routes actually look like in practice is another – and often more useful for working out whether a route is right for you.
Our Data Impact Fellows have shared stories about what it’s really like to sit in front of a select committee or present to a government body. These aren’t how-to posts – they’re first hand accounts, nerves and all.
Stories from our Data Impact Fellows
James Cockett writes about presenting interim findings to the Low Pay Commission as part of his day in the life blog post – from the early train down from Brighton to the moment he stood up in a room of 40 people to speak for five minutes.
David Kingman’s account of giving oral evidence to the House of Lords in a blog post walks through the three-stage select committee process start to end – from written submission, to the oral evidence session in the Palace of Westminster, to seeing his research reflected in the committee’s final report months later.
Esmeralda Bon’s blog post on turning a chance conversation into a submitted report shows a route that didn’t start with a call for evidence at all. It started with a lunch conversation that led to a cross-sector collaboration and, eventually, a submission cited in an official Parliamentary report.
Other stories
Beyond our Data Impact Fellows’ accounts, the UK Data Service Impact team regularly shares a much wider range of examples of research reaching government and decision makers.
The Royal British Legion’s blog post on using British Social Attitudes survey data to inform the Armed Forces Bill 2026 shows how evidence can move from a funded survey question, through a written submission and oral testimony to a select committee, to ultimately shaping the passage of a live piece of legislation.
Our Perspectives on Engagement and Impact event brought early career researchers together with policy and stakeholder voices – including a local councillor, the CLOSER Policy Engagement team and a panel of former Data Impact Fellows – to share honest reflections on engaging audiences outside of academia, with recordings of every session available to watch back.
And our Local communities in data theme, introduced in this blog post, pulls together research, case studies and datasets that speak directly to current government priorities, such as the Safer Streets Mission and the Pride in Place strategy – a useful way to see how a whole body of evidence, not just a single study, can align with what government is asking for,
Start small and build from there
Policy engagement can sound like something reserved for researchers with years of experience, established networks or a seat at the table. But there are many ways to get started.
Whichever route you choose, the common thread is the same: know your audience, be clear about what you’re offering, and start small if you need to.
If you are looking for a low-stakes way to begin translating your research to non-academic audiences, contributing to the blog is a good place to begin.
The important thing is not to wait for the perfect opportunity. Find the route that fits your research and where you are now – and take the first step.
About the author
Eve Little is the Research Impact and Engagement Manager at the UK Data Service.
Before joining the UK Data Service, she worked in student support and wellbeing, and in participatory research evaluation with underrepresented communities.
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