Next steps and 'how to' guides
It can be hard to know where to start if you'd like to engage with Parliament as a researcher. Here is some advice to help you plan your next steps, as well as some 'how to' guides.
Getting started
1. Make sure you have read through our ways to engage with Parliament page, which outlines all the ways that you could approach and work with different parts of Parliament. You might also like to watch one of our 30 minute long training sessions about how to engage with Parliament as a researcher.
2. Think about why you want to engage with Parliament, i.e. what would you like to achieve? This will help you to work out who to engage with and how.
3. Identify the areas where your work may be of interest in these ways:
- Find relevant select committees and sign up to email alerts or follow them on Twitter: full list of committees.
- Get to grips with the kinds of topics the libraries and POST write briefings on: explore briefings, and sign up to the receive POST alerts.
- Identify relevant All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs): APPG register.
4. If you are on Twitter, follow @UKParl_Research for plenty of opportunities to engage with Parliament as well as advice and resources to help you do so.
5. Take a look at our ‘how to’ guides (further down this page) for a range of resources that can support you to engage with Parliament, from making an impact with your research, to submitting evidence to a select committee and writing a policy brief.
Taking it further
1. If you see a relevant select committee inquiry, submit written evidence. Here is a list of all open calls for evidence. Select committees also advertise for specialist advisers sometimes, so keep an eye out for these opportunities.
2. Work with POST by proposing a topic for a briefing, contributing to a briefing currently being written, or participating in peer review of a briefing before it is published.
3. Apply for an Academic Fellowship.
4. If you would like to introduce yourself to the House of Commons Library, send a 250 word introduction to keu@parliament.uk who will pass it to the relevant subject specialist in the Library. If you have factual updates you could contribute to a pre-existing Library briefing, you can get in contact with the House of Commons Library by emailing papers@parliament.uk, naming the briefing and the update.
5. Contact relevant APPGs from the APPG Register and offer to deliver a talk or contribute to their work.
Guides to help you to engage with Parliament
Working with Parliament can be confusing, so we've put all you need to know in one place.
Making an impact with your research
- Parliament for Researchers: online training session videos - recordings of training sessions about how to work with Parliament as a researcher, available for academic researchers, early career researchers, PhD students and knowledge mobilisers (each approximately 30 minutes long)
- Research, impact and the UK Parliament - one pager on who uses research in Parliament and how is it used
- Getting your research into Parliament - infographic on how research feeds into Parliament and tips for making connections
Infographic coproduced by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, Taylor and Francis Group and Sense about Science (this work is licensed under a CC-BY NC License) - A short guide to producing research to support the work of UK Parliament - three page guide on producing research so as to be useful for Parliament; from drafting a project proposal to disseminating findings
- Knowledge exchange and legislatures - four page briefing coproduced with the devolved legislatures detailing why and how to conduct knowledge exchange with legislatures.
- Research impact and legislatures - four page briefing coproduced with the devolved legislatures and detailing how to have and demonstrate impact with legislatures.
- Research impact on policy - high level eight page briefing presenting the policy landscape, including: legislatures, executive and judiciaries, what they do and how they use research; other policy bodies, from local government to international bodies; and how research can impact on policy
Submitting evidence to a select committee
- Guidance on submitting evidence to Commons select committees
- Guidance on submitting evidence to Lords select committees
- Parliament for Researchers: how to work with select committees video - recording of an online training session about how to work with select committees as a researcher (approximately 30 minutes long)
- Parliament for Researchers: exploring select committee evidence video - recording of an online training session about how select committees use research findings and expertise as evidence, and the role of specialist advisors (approximately 55 minutes long)
Writing a policy brief
- Writing for a parliamentary audience - three page guide coproduced with the devolved legislatures on how to communicate with parliaments
- Tips from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology on writing a policy brief
- Parliament for Researchers: how to write for a parliamentary audience video - recording of an online training session about how to write and target a policy briefing for Parliament (approximately 30 minutes long)
Please get in touch with your suggestions for new, useful 'how to' guides. Email: keu@parliament.uk