International best practice dictates that
policies impacting people should be
evidence-based, and that those most
affected are in the best position to explain
the needs that effective policies have to
meet. The problem is that people outside
academia rarely get to contribute to
research, and (apart from opinion surveys)
policy makers find it hard to understand
people’s true needs when they formulate
policy. Researchers in UL’s Department
of Politics and Public Administration have
addressed this problem by developing
participatory frameworks for public policy
design. Working in collaboration with
politicians, policy makers, community
groups and citizens, UL researchers have
found ways to collect the evidence needed
by state agencies, politicians and policy
makers to target policy interventions and
resources precisely where people most
need them.
In effect, UL’s researchers have become
translators between officialdom and
citizens, helping create collaborative
partnerships that provide for robust
evidence-based policy making. These
partnerships marshal the insights and
inputs of all policy stakeholders, and result
in policy that is more effective for all.