Bridging the academic–policy-making gap: practice and policy issues

Abstract

How policy-makers engage with academics is both a current ‘hot’ topic and a perennial problem. Policy initiatives such as the Research Excellence Framework's (REF) so-called ‘impact agenda’ have ‘pushed’ academics towards seeking more such engagement, whilst others ‘pull’ towards it, such as ‘open policy-making’. Apart from some biographical accounts and case studies, surprisingly little is known at a more general level about how policy-makers do actually engage with academic research and expertise. Analysis of these policies, as well as empirical evidence from the British civil service, suggest these engagements may be generating more ‘endarkenment’ (to use Weiss's term) than enlightenment.

Keywords:

• Open policy-making
• Research Excellence Framework [REF]
• research utilization models
• theory–practice gap