Month: June 2026

Politics of evidence co-production in Finnish higher education

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Joni Forsell

This blog post is based on the Evidence & Policy article, ‘Co-producing evidence in Finnish higher education admissions working groups’.

Decision-makers today need to draw on a variety of evidence sources and consider stakeholders’ views to solve evermore complex societal and political problems. Co-production refers to a multi-voiced policy process that brings together multiple actors and ways of knowing. Yet it can be unclear when and how co-production is honestly a collective endeavour and what political-structural factors condition it. In our Evidence & Policy article, ‘Co-producing evidence in Finnish higher education admissions working groups’, we investigated these questions in the context of Finnish higher education policymaking. We found that Finland’s Ministry of Culture and Education (MEC) utilised working groups and evidence co-production as a governing tool to manage stakeholder interests. Capitalising on the experience and knowledge of the field produced evidence to help realise the government’s political goals.

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Supporting policy through research: what role for funders?

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Annette Boaz and Kathryn Oliver

This blog post is based on the Evidence & Policy article, ‘Supporting policy through research funding: how UK funders can use Areas of Research Interest to bridge evidence gaps‘.

Using research to inform policy sounds straightforward, but in practice, it remains one of the biggest challenges in public policy. Despite decades of effort, there is still a persistent gap between what we know from research and what gets used in decision-making. Our recent study explores one under‑examined part of this puzzle: the role of research funders.

In the UK, ‘Areas of Research Interest’ (ARIs) have emerged as an important tool to help bridge this gap. ARIs are sets of questions produced by government departments that outline their priority evidence needs. They are designed to signal where new research and existing knowledge could support policy development.

Our research set out to understand how ARIs might be of use to research funders. Drawing on 30 interviews with funders, policymakers, academics and knowledge mobilisers, we found that ARIs are doing something important: they create a shared space for dialogue.

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