Activities per year
Abstract
Political scientists are increasingly exhorted to ensure their research has policy ‘impact’, most notably via Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact case studies, and ‘pathways to impact’ statements in UK Research Council funding applications. Yet the assumptions underpinning these frameworks often fail to reflect available evidence and theories. Notions of ‘impact’, ‘engagement’ and ‘knowledge exchange’ are typically premised on simplistic, linear models of the policy process, according to which policy-makers are keen to ‘utilise’ expertise to produce more ‘effective’ policies. Such accounts overlook the rich body of literature in political science, policy studies, and sociology of knowledge, which offer more complex and nuanced accounts. Drawing on this wider literature, this paper sets out four different approaches to theorising the relationship: (1) knowledge shapes policy; (2) politics shapes knowledge; (3) co-production; and (4) autonomous spheres. We consider what each of these four approaches suggests about approaches to incentivising and measuring research impact.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | UNSP 20 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-11 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Palgrave Communications |
Volume | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 20 Feb 2018 |
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Rethinking Policy ‘Impact’: Four Models of Research-Policy Relations'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Activities
- 2 Invited talk
-
Keynote lecture, EUI conference on knowledge use in migration policy
Christina Boswell (Keynote speaker)
31 May 2018 → 1 Jun 2018Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Invited talk
-
Understanding Research-Policy Relations
Christina Boswell (Invited speaker)
1 Feb 2018Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Invited talk