Explore some of the ways in which research comes to be taken up and used by policy-makers in the UK and elsewhere and consider what researchers themselves can do at each stage of a research project’s lifecycle to maximise the chances of it informing the development of evidence-based policy.

Consider the ways in which appropriate pathways to policy impact might be identified and articulated in research funding bids, as well as the practical steps that researchers can take to realise the potential impacts of their work.

By the end of the session participants should:

1. Be aware of key research-to-policy pathways and activities and understand at what point(s) these move from dissemination or engagement to policy impact.
2. Understand how these apply to their own research projects or ideas.
3. Be able to draft a very rough ‘Pathways to Impact’ statement for a research project with which they are familiar, explaining what they would expect to need to do to achieve policy impacts.