How to lead an evidence centre

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Steve Martin

This blog post is based on the Evidence & Policy article, ‘Leading research–policy engagement: an empirical analysis of the capabilities and characteristics of leaders of evidence intermediary organisations’.

In the last ten years, a range of countries have invested in organisations designed to bridge the gap between researchers and policymakers. In the United Kingdom alone, we now have 12 What Works Centres, 30 Health Determinants Research Collaborations, three Local Policy Innovations Partnerships, several regional evidence centres, and dozens of policy engagement teams working in universities, businesses and charities.

The leadership of these evidence intermediaries is key to their effectiveness. But we know very little about their leaders – where they come, what they do, and what skills they need for the job. To help fill this gap, I conducted in-depth interviews with leaders of some of the UK’s most high-profile evidence intermediary organisations. Their stories provide fascinating ‘warts and all’ accounts of what it takes to lead an organisation that can overcome the formidable institutional barriers that often stand in the way of evidence-informed policy and practice.

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Evidence & Policy Call for Abstracts: Special Issue: Strengthening Research Practice Partnerships in Social Care: Evidence, Impact and Policy Learning

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Special Issue Editors: Professor Annette Boaz and Professor Ann-Marie Towers

Abstract Submission Deadline: Monday 3 November 2025

Background to the Special Issue

Research practice partnerships (RPPs) offer transformative potential by embedding rigorous evidence into decision making and practice, yet there is limited synthesis of how such collaborations function and their influence on policy and practice.  Research practice partnerships have featured in previous editions of Evidence & Policy (for example, Hoekstra et al 2021; Gray et al 2024) and the importance of collaborative working and relationships is a core theme in journal submissions, including in a key paper by Best and Holmes (2010).

This Evidence & Policy special issue builds on empirical and conceptual learning from six RPPs in England funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research.  It will also feature contributions from a wider group of partnerships emerging from the social care/ human services sectors internationally—to generate comparative insights on structures, mechanisms for co production, knowledge mobilisation strategies, and policy impact. 

Aims of the special issue:

  1. Evaluate the impact of RPP typologies in social care/ human services.
  2. Examine co-production and governance models that facilitate practitioner and public engagement.
  3. Evaluate how generated evidence contributes to organisational policy decisions and builds research capacity
  4. Identify transferable lessons for establishing and sustaining collaborative RPPs.

Invitation to Submit Proposals

Interested authors should send a 300-word abstract to Special Issue Editors Professor Annette Boaz (Annette.boaz@kcl.ac.uk) and Professor Ann-Marie Towers (ann-marie.towers@kcl.ac.uk) by Monday 3 November 2025.

Invitations for full paper submissions will be sent in mid-November, and full papers will be due by end of March 2026.

We welcome submissions on:

  • Research Articles employing mixed methods evaluations of RPP outcomes.
  • Perspectives discussing methodological and ethical challenges in partnership design.
  • Theory & Methods papers on frameworks for assessing embedded evidence impact.

Against unanimity: the perils of negotiating collective policy recommendations across a diverse third sector

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Jane Cullingworth

This blog post is based on the Evidence & Policy article, ‘Strengthening the role of third sector intermediary bodies in democratic governance: developing strategies with state and non-state actors’.

We can all agree that evidence needs to shape policy but how do we gather evidence, particularly from the frontlines? With the rise of participatory governance and an interest in the perspectives of communities, the third sector is uniquely placed to play a key role in facilitating and generating this evidence. But given the diversity of third sector stakeholders and multitude of perspectives, how is such evidence understood, interpreted and represented?

Animating knowledge requires intermediaries (known as knowledge brokers) to translate lived experience into action, addressing the know-do gap – that is, a gap between knowledge and policy. Across the third sector there are many intermediary bodies – organisations that support the sector and represent its interests. While these organisations are not typically thought of as knowledge brokers in the policy arena, they play an important role in ensuring that the voices of citizens and civil society groups are included in policy. Many are highly active in networks and partnerships with state actors.

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Optimising microsurveys to improve the use of research evidence from websites

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Esmeralda Michel, Megan Mitchell, Nehal Eldeeb and Valerie B. Shapiro

This blog post is based on the Evidence & Policy article, ‘Promoting the use of research evidence from websites: optimising microsurveys as feedback loops to drive improvement’.

There are many efforts to make research evidence accessible to educators online through toolkits and in other user-friendly formats. Intermediaries – which are organisations that sit between research and practice – can take on the mission of synthesising, translating and sharing research for the public. One such intermediary is the Greater Good in Education (GGIE), an organization that hosts a website of evidence-based practices for educators. Yet a persistent challenge remains among these types of intermediaries: once research evidence is packaged and posted, how do we know the extent to which the evidence is being accessed, appraised and applied in practice? Intermediaries are missing ‘feedback loops’ that could help the intermediaries adapt and improve their efforts to promote the use of research evidence.

In a recent study published in Evidence & Policy, researchers Eldeeb, Ren, and Shapiro explored whether microsurveys could help fill this gap. Microsurveys are short surveys embedded directly on a webpage, triggered by specified interactions with the website. They can capture real-time feedback from users, providing actionable insights into whether research evidence is likely to be applied in practice.

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Recognising the expertise of people with disability

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Shane Clifton

This blog post is based on the Evidence & Policy article, ‘Disability lived experience and expertise: recognising the expert contributions of people with disability’.

The disability rights movement was founded on the principle of ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’. This idea highlights the importance of including people with disability in decisions that affect them and recognises their expertise in shaping their own lives. While people with disability have too often been subject to controlling and dehumanising systems, as we explore in our recent study, there is now a growing understanding that disabled people should play key roles in designing, producing and leading disability healthcare, policy and research. The knowledge they bring is often called ‘lived experience’.

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Beyond barriers: new insights from the ESRC Policy Fellowships

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Matthew Flinders and Jessica Benson-Egglenton

This blog post is based on the Evidence & Policy article, ‘Understanding the dynamics of research–policy fellowships: an evaluative analysis of barriers and blockages’.

Supporting embedded academics requires understanding role types, managing ‘bandwidth,’ and setting clear expectations.

In recent years the dominant notion of ‘research excellence’ has expanded to include a joint emphasis on both knowledge creation and knowledge utilisation. Research funding is now targeted as addressing specific societal challenges. Forms of co-production and co-design have been promoted as a way of bringing potential research-users into project design and delivery. Thus, a vast and complex landscape of boundary-spanning initiatives and investments has been established to facilitate the use of research by policy-makers.

The challenge, however, is that policy-making is a messy and sometimes irrational process. Brian Hogwood and Lewis Gunn famously exposed this simple fact in their book Policy Analysis for the Realworld (1985), and recent work from the Institute for Government underlines the continuing validity of ‘the real-world messiness’ argument.

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New Evidence & Policy issue – Volume 21: Issue 3

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The editorial team of Evidence & Policy are excited to share this special collection of articles focused on the intersections between health, evidence use, and the application of research within evolving and complex public health policy contexts.

Articles in this issue explore and critically examine innovative models and frameworks (i.e., Functional Dialogue, Policy Advisory Boards) for leveraging research to inform policy in times of public health crisis (specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic). They also focus on improving medical practice (i.e., Knowledge Brokering, Contemporary Implementation of Traditional knowledge and Evidence (CITE) Framework, Integrated Systems of Care), as well as efforts to expand and broaden health care coverage and directly influence policy addressing structural determinants of health (Participatory Deliberative Processes).

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What it really takes to mobilise knowledge: lessons from Danish street-level organisations

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Dorte Caswell and Tanja Dall

This blog post is based on the Evidence & Policy article, ‘Structuring sustainable knowledge brokering in street-level organisations‘.

Let’s face it: everyone loves the idea of evidence-informed practice – until it’s time to actually do it. In our Evidence & Policy article, we dive into the messy, fascinating, and occasionally bureaucratically baffling world of knowledge mobilisation in public service organisations. Spoiler alert: there’s no magic wand, but there are some pretty good pointers on how to make the hard work of knowledge mobilisation work.

Our study  is based on a long-term collaboration with five Danish municipal employment services. These organisations juggle national policies, performance targets, and the unpredictable realities of human lives. Within this whirlwind, we asked: how can research and evidence become part of daily practice, rather than something that only shows up in PowerPoint presentations?

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Researchers need training and support to effectively engage with policymakers

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Kaitlin Brand, Shelby Flores-Thorpe, Yuzi Zhang, Amelia Roebuck, Tiffni Menendez, Rachel Linton, Taylor Bishop Scott, Max Crowley, Alexandra van den Berg and Deanna M. Hoelscher

This blog post is based on the Evidence & Policy article, ‘Evaluation of researchers’ policy-related knowledge, needs and self-efficacy before and after the 2021 Texas Legislative Session’.

Evidence-based health policy has long shaped public health intervention in the United States. For example, smoke-free policies, first introduced in the 1970s, prevent exposure to second-hand smoke, and folic acid fortification of grain products in the late 1990s significantly reduced rates of spina bifida and neural tube defects in newborns.  

Despite these successes, there’s still a considerable delay in the knowledge transfer of research to policy and practice. Many public health researchers want their work to inform health policy but face barriers to engagement with policymakers, such as different communication styles, decision-making frameworks, and timelines. Developing ongoing relationships and partnerships between researchers and decision-makers offers one solution as multiple studies suggest policymakers are more likely to use evidence to inform health policy when it comes from someone they know or respect. 

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Bridging disciplinary silos: a URE methods repository to aid collaboration

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Sallie Barnes, Annette Boaz and Kathryn Oliver

There are two critical problems facing the use of research evidence (or URE) space. The first is the limited opportunity to learn about how other disciplines are researching URE. The second is the lack of open and interdisciplinary debate about what counts as good quality research in the field. The URE Methods Repository seeks to address these problems. By providing improved access to published papers, data, analysis tools, and preprints, the repository aims to promote more connected, innovative practice and help us to avoid reinventing the wheel.

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