Opinion: Universities must collaborate to better inform public policy

Professor David Price, Sarah Chaytor (both UCL Vice-Provost (Research)) and Vice-Chancellor Andrew Wathey (University of Northumbria) write how Covid-19 has underlined the need for more coordinated and comprehensive engagement with policymakers. The coronavirus pandemic has brought many unexpected changes - including a sudden prime-time role for government scientific advisers. What has until recently been rather a niche area within both government policymaking and university activity has now found itself centre stage - with not a few pitfalls along the way. As well as exposing some of the frictions in the scientific advice structures within government, this focus on how academic expertise feeds into policy development prompts reflections about how universities currently engage with public policy - and what more they could do. There is a growing importance attached to the "impact agenda" in the UK - including a significant number of policy impact case studies in the last research excellence framework - and an increasing recognition of the importance of policy engagement among research funders. Nevertheless, this is not an area that has received a great deal of strategic focus in our higher education institutions. This is perhaps partly due to the complexities of the public policy landscape.