Launching our Policy Engagement Community of Practice

Why a community of practice?

We wanted to create a space for researchers from all disciplines to come together, share best practices and access resources and training. We know that there is policy engagement happening at Leeds Beckett, and we also know that there are many researchers who want to practice policy engagement but need the support structure and access to a bank of knowledge and experience. And that’s what the CoP is - a platform to help get the outstanding research at LBU into the hands of policy makers.

What can the Policy engagement community of practice offer?

We know that policy engagement is not always intuitive and requires a conscious change in the way we write and present our ideas and research. The CoP is here to help you bridge that gap; the CoP is the best way to access our existing resources, including an LBU branded policy brief template and information on writing for policy makers.

We have also organised the first of many training sessions, Demystifying Policymaking: A Regional Lens with Paul Hayes, Senior Policy Fellow at Leeds University Business School. Taking place on Wednesday 14 October at City Campus, he’ll give us a view into how local and city councils work and how we can build our policy engagement strategy to work for our local governments.

Paul is the first of many external speakers and indeed the next meeting of the Community of Practice will host a speaker who currently works in policy. But beyond external speakers, the CoP enables us to platform and learn from the experience and expertise that already exists at Leeds Beckett.

What can we learn from our colleagues?

At our first session we heard from Tracy Edwards (Carnegie School of Education | Centre for Justice, Law and Policy) and Dr Martin Fletcher (School of Built Environment, Engineering and Computing | Leeds Sustainability Institute). Tracy’s work in and around SEND policy gave us invaluable insights into what works for policy makers, as well as the ways academics can make sure they get a seat in the table.

Martin was able to relate Leeds Sustainability’s Institute’s (LSI) policy engagement strategy and showed how consistent relationship-building snowballs into more and more opportunities. Emphasised by both speakers, is that all policy engagement is good policy engagement and serves to build the crucial relationships that result in concrete opportunities.

What have we learnt so far?

One of the key messages that has come out of this CoP as well as our discussions with researchers and policy makers, is that policy engagement works best when it’s a collaborative effort. This means working with other researchers from many different disciplines but more importantly, finding partners in community organisations, governments departments and the private sector. This community of practice is the perfect space to facilitate these connections. Each of our sessions is attended by researchers from all disciplines and, by learning about and discussing our policy engagement strategies, we can discover new opportunities for collaboration and shared resources.

Policy engagement happens in many forums. These include committees, All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) and meetings with MPs and civil servants. But it also happens at industry conferences, international networks, advisory boards and secondments to government departments. Indeed, the government is actively looking for research via Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), tenders for research secondments and consultations.

What’s next?

Going forward, the Community of practice and Policy@LeedsBeckett are hosting a number of exciting events including a panel session on Monday 21 September at The Knowledge Exchange - Collaborating Through Culture, With Leeds City Council.

If you would like to join our Teams channel, get updates on new opportunities for policy engagement and be the first to hear about events like these, fill in this brief form and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about Policy engagement or research impact!