How to engage with policymakers

Policymakers, especially those making the most important decisions such as government ministers, have limited capacity to engage with the multitude of people vying for their attention. Therefore, the first step is to find out the issues that are of interest to them. The focus areas of government consultations and other parliamentary inquiries are good sources of information that you can discover using the following bespoke CLOSER tools:

• Areas of Research Interest Tracker
• Government Consultation Tracker
• Parliamentary Committee Inquiry Tracker

It is important to select the right audience for your research findings and policy recommendations. With longitudinal data and research this is usually the UK government and parliament, and their devolved counterparts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

There are several ways to help identify who you should be targeting. Responsibility for each policy area sits within a specific government department, while Parliamentary Committees explore a range of policy issues and scrutinise the work of government departments.

Other organisations, such as think tanks, charities, and advocacy groups have policy-specific purposes or workstreams that researchers can engage with.

Our Policymaking process explained section has more detail on the different audiences you can target with your research.

You can conduct formal policy engagement and informal policy engagement. While formal engagement is important, Government and Parliamentary calls for evidence are likely to receive submissions from a huge range of organisations, some of whom will have a great deal of political influence. Researchers should consider other forms of engagement to improve the chances of influencing policymakers.

Formal engagement

Formal policy engagement refers to engaging with official policymaking initiatives aimed at receiving input from external stakeholders. This is the core of any mobilisation strategy. The main avenues we recommend for this are government consultations and Parliamentary Select Committee inquiries.

Informal engagement

The best way to have your research taken into consideration when policy decisions are made is by building relationships with those in policymaking circles. The primary way to meet people and cultivate such relationships is through face-to-face dialogue. Government and Parliamentary bodies hold public meetings, such as All-Party Parliamentary Groups or Parliamentary Committee meetings. However, a host of other organisations run events open to the public. Often these are held more regularly and targeted towards specific policy areas. Such organisations include:

• Think tanks
• Lobby groups
• Political monitoring agencies
• Policy networks (such as the Universities Policy Engagement Network)
• Political parties

Another way to engage with policy stakeholders is to make them aware of your research, for example, by contacting Members of Parliament (MPs) or Peers (members of the House of Lords) who have shown an interest in your research areas. You can use Hansard, Parliament’s record-keeping function, which provides a detailed search tool that enables you to search by keyword to find Parliamentarians who have mentioned specific topics. The contact details of MPs and Peers are publicly available on the Parliament website.

Try emailing their office in the first instance; the office or Parliamentarian may request further information either with a meeting or via email. For tips on constructing your email, please see our templates section.

You may also find these CLOSER guides and resources useful:

• Templates and guidance
• Further resources