Engaging with UK Parliament about your research can expand your networks and help you to shape the policy agenda and generate impact.

Engaging with UK Parliament as a researcher is for everyone, from every demographic and research discipline. You don’t need to be a senior academic to get involved. UK Parliament is keen to hear from researchers at all career stages and from a wide range of institutions.

Your research could help UK Parliament to carry out its role of holding the government to account and passing legislation.

This might be getting involved in UK Parliament’s scrutiny work, checking and challenging the work of the government. You could help parliamentarians to better understand a topic, supporting them to debate the important issues of the day. You might suggest recommendations for government action on an issue. You could signpost parliamentary staff to your own and others’ research and expertise. Or you might get involved in another way.

A case study of engaging with UK Parliament

In this video interview (5 mins), Dr Alisha Ali, Associate Professor at Sheffield Hallam University describes her experience of engaging with the House of Commons select committee.

Information on how to engage with UK Parliament   

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST)

POST is committed to making research accessible to the UK Parliament.  The POST webpages include information for policy makers and experts to help bridge research and policy.  Their flagship report, the POSTnote, providing regular reviews of emerging areas of research. POST runs a number of fellowship schemes with learned societies, professional associations, and funding bodies as well as their own POST fellowship.  POST also host events, from closed round-table discussions to full day conferences open to the public.  There are also some useful resources for policy makers and experts.

The UK Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange Unit (KEU)

The KEU’s web hub for researchers contains a range of resources for engaging with UK Parliament as a researcher, including information on how to stay up to date on opportunities to engage, first steps to engaging with UK Parliament, and ‘how to’ guides.  Take a look at the KEU’s useful three-page guide on writing for a parliamentary audience.

For more information about engaging with UK Parliament as a researcher, contact the Knowledge Exchange Unit.