The Role of University Policy Institutes in the Science-Policy Relationship

Over the last decade, there has been a proliferation of policy institutes being set up by British universities in a bid to improve their influence and impact on policy-making. Multiple factors are at play in this growth, from the Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact agenda, to universities’ renewed endeavour for achieving their civic mission and a growing demand within policy-making circles for more research evidence. Based on a cataloguing of such bodies and semi-structured interviews with some of these organisations, this study aims to understand what purpose university policy institutes serve. Rather than focusing on informing or influencing policy, we believe their biggest impact is internally, on university structures, roles and relationships. In doing so, we build on and contribute to research from critical management studies, education scholarship and other literatures such as evidence-based policy-making (EBPM) into the changing roles and identities of universities and their relationship with policy-making.