Background: Although research-to-policy (R2P) fellowships are increasingly used to facilitate mobility, promote knowledge-exchange, and support evidence-based policy making, the evaluation of these initiatives in terms of (multi-level) impacts and broader 'ecosystem effects' remains under-researched. Aims and objectives: The aim of this article is…

Background: Fuse was established in 2008 as one of five public health research centres of excellence in the UK funded by the UK Clinical Research Centres collaboration. The centre works across five universities in the North East of England. This is an innovative collaboration and enables the pooling of research expertise. A prime focus of the…

Background: A number of ways to conduct research are designed to maximise the likelihood that evidence from research is quickly transferred into practice. This includes action research and partnership research between researchers and policy makers. Such approaches focus research effort on questions of highest relevance to practice and policy so as…

Last year, the William T. Grant Foundation took stock of its initiative to support research on reducing inequality in youth outcomes. The aim was to understand, in part, the pathways through which grantees' research findings may be reaching audiences including researchers, journalists, policymakers, and practitioners. Five years into the reducing…

Science can provide empirically-informed strategies and resources to inform and improve policy and practice, though all too often science, policy, and practice operate independently from one another. Research mediators play a critical role by attempting to connect these different worlds. This practice paper presents lessons learned and…

Background: Although there is now an extensive international body of research and evidence about care and carers it is fragmented and disparate. Without synthesis, organisation and accessibility it cannot effectively inform and improve policy and practice with carers. Key points for discussion: This paper makes the case for an accessible…

The complexity of getting research into policy and practice, or "GRIPP," is amplified in school mental health due to its position at the intersection of two distinct fields, education and mental health. GRIPP is hindered by several obstacles, including mutual distrust of researchers and practitioners/policymakers, their differing…

Researchers are increasingly being asked to demonstrate the impact of their research on policy. Unfortunately, evidence on what works is scarce because it is rarely reported and evaluated. This paper describes a programme of facilitated engagement between knowledge producers and users on topics of joint research and policy interest, and validates…

While it is frequently argued that assessment sits at the heart of the learning process, in practice assessment often remains narrowly focused on qualifications and reporting achievements, driven by institutional and societal aspirations and tensions such as accountability and economic well being. Yet, the need for assessment to account for the…

Despite bipartisan support in Washington, DC, which dates back to the mid-1990s, the "what works" approach has yet to gain broad support among policymakers and practitioners. One way to build such support is to increase the usefulness of program impact evaluations for these groups. We describe three ways to make impact evaluations more…

The Policy Liaison Initiative (PLI) is a long-term knowledge translation initiative designed to support the use of Cochrane systematic reviews in health policy. A joint initiative between the Australasian Cochrane Centre and Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, the PLI includes: 1) a community of practice for evidence-informed…

This guide describes the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) approach to measuring impact using examples from its own case studies, as well as showing how to maximise the impact of applied social science research. Applied social science research needs to demonstrate that it is relevant and useful both to public policy and…

In the field of education much has been made of the need for academics to engage more closely with policy-makers and practitioners in the process of knowledge production and research uptake. This paper reports results from a survey of academic educational researchers in Australia on their experience of research uptake and engagement with…

The multifaceted role of research in social work education and practice requires innovation to respond to the broader mission of the university and the needs of the community. Building research capacity and supporting infrastructure for research thus demands new approaches to effective collaboration between stakeholders. Intermediary organizations…

This paper aims to contribute to reflection on how rural research can better serve rural communities. Using the results of literature searches across the disciplines, it explores some major 21st Century debates about improving the usefulness of research for policy and practice. The paper begins with an examination of different debates in…