Professor Bauld is the Bruce and John Usher Chair in Public Health in the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, and Chief Social Policy Adviser to the Scottish Government. She is Principal Investigator for Behavioural Research UK (BR-UK), Vice Chair of Diabetes UK, and a board member of the Faculty of Public Health, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and the Academy of Social Sciences. She also chairs Cancer Research UK’s international cancer prevention advisory group and is a member of the scientific advisory group for the Canadian Institutes for Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health. Former roles include scientific adviser on tobacco control to the UK Government and as cancer prevention adviser for Cancer Research UK.

Abstract

What’s evidence got to do with it? Providing scientific advice in policy contexts

Governments around the world draw on scientific advice to inform policy in a range of ways. This includes through the analytical professions within government, providing placements or secondments for academics and other specialists, and building links with experts in research organisations, learned societies, or other relevant bodies. There is an extensive literature examining how evidence informs policy processes. But this is not always useful in understanding what happens in practice. This presentation will reflect on the research-policy interface within the UK, noting the increasing range of opportunities for academics in recent decades. Drawing on examples from addiction science advice but also much more broadly, it will highlight: how working with decision makers is important for research impact; why traditional ‘pathways to impact’ are insufficient and advocacy organisations play a key role; and how we need to build further capacity in the research community to navigate the (often challenging) research-policy interface.