“By the People, for the People” Bringing public participation back to politics

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.