How to Influence Policy through Research. Managing relationships and complexity

This session will explore some of the pitfalls and possibilities in working with policy makers and policy influencers.

Dr Daniel Edmiston, whose research focuses on social policy, welfare politics and inequality, will discuss his experience of working with think tanks and policy influencers including problems of ownership and diffuse nature of "impact"; the intangible impacts of research including relationships, citation & invisible work/time; and positioning yourself as a researcher with/alongside policymakers/wider stakeholder networks including building long-term partnerships and complicity.

Professor Jacqueline Stevenson will talk about her work on religion, Muslims and Islamophobia and describe how she became an ‘accidental’ influencer, informing politicians and parliamentary committees about Islamophobia; dealing with the national and international media and managing hostility and criticism; and measuring the impact of policy-oriented research.

We will then open up the session for questions, and other views and perspectives.