Building the evidence ecosystem: What works for impact in Wales and Australia
Overview
What works to encourage the use of evidence in public policy and practice and what is the role of knowledge brokering organisations?
Knowledge brokering aims to connect evidence - including academic research - to decision-makers in policy and practice. This is essential if research and evidence is to inform public policy and implementation and there is increasing pressure from governments for universities to demonstrate the wider economic and social impacts of their research.
What To Expect
At this interactive, in person event ANZSOG Visiting Academic Fellows, Professor James Downe, Dr Eleanor MacKilliop and Dr Hannah Durrant from the Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) will discuss knowledge brokering and its impact in the UK along with perspectives from Australia.
The centre is a knowledge brokering organisation (KBO) based at Cardiff University supporting national and local government and public services across Wales to access, interpret and apply evidence to improve public policy and implementation.
The Fellows will situate WCPP within the wider knowledge brokering landscape and outline their approach to knowledge brokering that has been refined over more than a decade. They will also discuss the wider UK context on social and economic impact, and what brokers are doing to have impact.
This will be followed by a panel discussion on the Australian context with plenty of opportunity for audience contributions.
Event Details
Speakers
Professor James Downe
Professor in Public Policy & Management in Cardiff Business School and Director of Research at the Wales Centre for Public Policy. The Centre supports government and public services to access, interpret and apply evidence that improves policy making and delivery. His current research interests are in evidence-informed policy-making, local government performance regimes, political accountability, sector-led improvement, public trust and the ethical behaviour of local politicians.
Dr Hannah Durrant
Senior Research Fellow and Director of Knowledge Mobilisation Theory and Practice at the Wales Centre for Public Policy. Hannah leads the Centre’s research on knowledge mobilisation practice (methods and approaches) and the relationship between practice and impact.
Dr Eleanor MacKilliop
As a Research Fellow, her work at the Wales Centre for Public Policy involves researching the role of evidence in decision-making in Wales and elsewhere, examining policy-making in devolved administrations and small countries, and evaluating the Well-Being of Future Generations Act in Wales.
About the ANZSOG Fellowship Program
ANZSOG Fellowships connect leading academics with senior practitioners to explore issues of significance to contemporary public governance.
Through research, engagement and collaboration, Fellows contribute new thinking, practical insights and evidence-informed approaches to challenges facing governments across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
For more information see https://anzsog.edu.au/insights/academic-fellows-program