Evidence-informed policymaking grants

The British Academy is inviting proposals related to evidence-informed policy-making in Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam and/or Least Developed Countries.

This programme is part of the £337m International Science Partnerships Fund, which is designed to enable potential and foster prosperity. It puts research and innovation at the heart of the UK’s international relationships, supporting UK researchers and innovators to work with peers around the world on the major themes of our time. It is managed by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology and delivered by a consortium of the UK’s leading research and innovation bodies.

In the context of this call, funding from the International Science Partnerships Fund is funded by Official Development Assistance (ODA) therefore applications for this funding must be ODA-eligible.

The Academy is able to offer awards of up to £150,000 for 12 months in duration. The Academy expects to make at least 20 awards.

Through this programme, the Academy wishes to develop and enhance the evidence base related to informing policymaking with research. The Academy is aware this is a broad field of research and activity with multiple intersecting and often, but not always, mutually supportive disciplinary communities and policy sectors working on the issues either from a theoretical or practice perspective. It is an important aim for the Academy to start to establish mutually reinforcing communities of practice in the longer term so duplication of effort and overly siloed research and practice is avoided.

This funding opportunity was designed to be complementary with the efforts of the Transforming Evidence Funders Network’s Research on Research Use working group. The working group has been aligning research funders’ investments across sectors, issue areas, disciplines, and geographies to support studies that build knowledge about when and under what conditions research evidence is used in policy, practice, and community decision-making—and when research use contributes to improved outcomes.

Aim of the award

The aim of this call is to support ODA-eligible international collaborations between researchers, policymakers and practitioners in the UK and those in Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam and/or Least Developed Countries on evidence-informed policymaking. Applications that are not considered ODA-eligible will not be taken forward through the assessment process.

Evidence-based policymaking is an ideal outcome for any policymaking efforts, however, policy is more usually informed by research and evidence if at all. This is often not at the right moments in the policymaking cycle and only when those involved in the generation of evidence and the formulation and delivery of policy act to ensure this is the case. The idea behind informing policymaking through quality evidence and research from the beginning of the policymaking cycle, what scholars call ‘framing’ or ‘ideation’, through to policy design and implementation and learning, is that it can enhance decisionmakers’ understanding of issues, helping to positively inform policy formation and creation, and service delivery, as well as supporting strategic planning and policy and programme improvements.

There is considerable interest in evidence-informed policymaking with much research aiming directly or indirectly to inform policy. This is supported by a broad field of evidence on how to foster the use of research evidence in specific conditions. There is, however, further work required on the effectiveness of interventions to develop, embed and sustain evidence-based policymaking. This call is therefore aiming to respond to questions, such as the following:

• What is needed to build structural, political and social conditions that value and support effective evidence use in policymaking?
• How do contextual factors and the political economy of evidence shape the substance of policies and the parameters regarding who is included or excluded, and who benefits more or less?
• How are policy outcomes (positively or negatively) affected when research evidence is used?

Eligibility

This programme will support grants in the following areas to develop this evidence base further and applications can consider interventions across one or more of a variety of mechanisms of change, including awareness and attitudes, mutual understanding and agreement, communication of and access to, interaction between policymakers and researchers, skills development, and/or structure and processes related to evidence-informed policymaking:

• Research related to how evidence use theory and research has been implemented in practice.
• Research or research-based activities related to knowledge systems strengthening and/or organisational change to support evidence use in practice.
• Knowledge systems strengthening and/or organisational change to support evidence use in practice.

The Academy is looking to support awards that work in the following fields:

• Environment, Sustainability & Nature
• Transformative Technologies
• Health & Wellbeing
• Cities & Urbanisation
• Global Order, Geopolitics and International Affairs

Successful awards will be required to work closely with the Academy in two respects. They are:

• Engaging with and involving Academy staff in the progress and development of their projects, including meetings with the Academy and the other grants supported through the programme.
• Commit to work with the Academy and wider stakeholders through meetings and other engagements on appropriate measures and indicators for assessing evidence use in policymaking through the tracking of progress and evaluation initiatives. This includes participating in a meeting at the start of the award to discuss and agree the measures and indicators to be used across the projects supported.

Application process

Applications must be submitted by 19 February 2025, 17:00 (GMT).

Applications can only be submitted online using the British Academy’s online Flexi-Grant® Grant Management System (GMS) system.

Scheme Guidance

You can view further details about the scheme and how to submit an application on our scheme guidance page.