Paul Cairney is Professor of Politics and Public Policy in the Department of History and Politics at the University of Stirling. He is a specialist in British politics and public policy, currently focusing on the ways in which policy studies can explain the use of evidence in politics and policy, and how policymakers translate broad long term aims into evidence-informed objectives (The Politics of Evidence-Based Policymaking, 2016).

As part of the ESRC Centre on Constitutional Change (CCC, led by Professors Michael Keating and Nicola McEwev), he was funded from 2013-15 to examine the policy capacity of Scottish institutions in the lead up to the referendum on Scottish independence. The CCC was at the heart of academic-driven discussions to provide relatively impartial evidence to voters in Scotland.

As part of the Horizon2020 funded IMAJINE centre on territorial inequalities across Europe, he will be funded from 2016-21 to examine the ways in which governments can, and should, use evidence to learn from the success and failure of other government strategies.