Introduction
Although research funders, governments and researchers share the desire to improve the use of evidence in decision-making, there are many barriers to doing so. Researchers often do not know what evidence is needed by government; existing research may not help policy officials make specific decisions. To improve policy-academic engagement, Sir Paul Nurse asked UK government departments to identify priority evidence gaps called Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) . This created an excellent opportunity for government to engage academics in conversation about how to meet these needs. Over 700 ARIs have been published, most of which require social science expertise to address. Some departments worked closely with academics to develop detailed questions, in some cases leading to dedicated funding. Other ARIs were briefer, requiring more work to establish next steps. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Government Office for Science (GO-Science) have supported us to maximise the value of these ARIs, by conducting action-research engaging with policy and research communities
Our Approach
Beginning in December 2019, we spent time with government officials, Chief Scientific Advisers, academics, and funders, aiming to prioritise ARIs and then facilitate constructive conversation about
- what we already know about each ARI (e.g existing evidence)
- What the evidence gaps are, and
- What steps might be required to address these gaps (further research, strategic funding, syntheses, or knowledge translation for example).
We have written up some of our initial reflections here. During 2021-22 we conducted interviews to explore how different groups experienced being part of our knowledge mobilisation exercise. You can find the topic guides for funders, officials, researchers and intermediaries by clicking on the links.
This is what we’ve learned so far
We've found that ARIs are an incredibly useful tool to improve conversations and prioritisation between government, funders and academia. To do this as well as possible takes commitment, time and skilled work.
Outputs and findings
Outputs to date include:
A searchable database of all ARIs
Blog: Unlocking the value of universities for the UK: could ARIs be the key?
F1000 paper (2022): Areas of research interest: joining the dots at last?
Evidence and Policy (2023) paper: How well do the UK government's areas of research interest work as boundary objects to facilitate the use of research in policymaking?