Policy Hub
Use this section for access to organisations outside government that are involved in social, economic and statistical research on the United Kingdom such as academic centres, research institutes, think tanks, research collaborations, research councils, research funders and research associations and membership bodies.
Evidence based policy centres are academic centres that support evidence based policymaking by co-ordinating and undertaking systematic reviews of evidence on social and economic issues.
Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation
Centre for Comparative European Policy Evaluation (Centre for Economic Policy Research)
Centre for Evidence Based Public Health Policy (University of Glasgow, University of Lancaster and University of Liverpool)
Centre for Evidence-Based Social Services- until October 2004 produced research, much of it funded by Department of Health, and evidence based practice guidelines. There was also a resource: be-evidence-based.com offering a database of critically appraised research for those in the Social Care field. Site now archived on the Ripfa website.
Centre for Neighbourhood Research (University of Bristol & University of Glasgow)
The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI Centre) (includes DfES funded Research Unit in Evidence Informed Policy and Practice in Education) - involved in a methodological Programme of evidence-based work on social interventions.
Evidence Network - the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) United Kingdom Centre for Evidence Based Policy and Practice provides a focal point for those who are interested in evidence based policy and practice (EBPP) to access useful information and resources. It aims to provide a forum for debate and discussion on EBPP issues, to contribute to capacity-building in the skills required for EBPP, and to explore EBPP issues through research and consultancy activities.
Research in practice for adults - aims to promote the use of evidence-informed practice in the planning and delivery of adult social care services.
Research Unit for Research Utilisation
(RURU) - conducts research on research use and provides a research resource
for all interested in using research to improve public policy and services.
Also provides training in areas relating to the use of research in policy
and practice.
Scottish Universities Policy, Research and Advice Network (SUPRA) Co-ordinated from the University of Edinburgh and University of Strathclyde. An interdisciplinary network providing evidence-based policy advice on science, technology and environment related issues.
Systematic Reviews in Social Policy and Social Care (University of York)
What Works for Children? (Barnardos and City University)
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Research Centres are national focal points for social science research where academics collaborate on long-term projects. They are central to the ESRC's strategy to implement its thematic priorities, develop the UK's social science research base, and strengthen its position on the international stage. Centres are normally funded for ten years.
Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR) - focuses on the organisational and institutional settings of risk management and regulation with an intention to analyse and explain variations in 'risk regulation' practice.
Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) - aims to understand the dynamic processes at work within its areas of study and to investigate the individual characteristics and social institutions which prevent exclusion, and promote recovery, regeneration and inclusion.
Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society (BRASS) - aims to contribute to the development and dissemination of new knowledge and understanding about the significant changes occurring in the relationships among firms, their customers and suppliers, investors, communities, government and a range of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and to develop tools and techniques that enable researchers and policy makers to better understand and manage the implications of business activity in relation to the pursuit of sustainability.
Centre for Business Research (CBR) - carries out studies of business competitiveness and performance; corporate governance; and entrepreneurship and small businesses.
Centre for Complex Product Systems (CoPS) - aims to make a contribution to our understanding of complex industrial products, systems, constructs and networks and to contribute its findings to industrial partners, policy makers and the academic community.
Centre for Economic Learning and Social Evolution (ELSE) - The Centre for Economic Learning and Social Evolution (ELSE) is concerned with the modelling of human behavior in the social sciences and, in particular, the evolutionary foundations of human behaviour, and in learning and imitation processes.
Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) - examines the determinants of economic performance at the level of the company, the nation and the global economy by focusing on the major links between globalisation, technology and institutions (above all the educational system and the labour market) and their impact on productivity, inequality, employment and stability.
Centre for Evidence-Based Social Services - until October 2004 produced research, much of it funded by Department of Health, and evidence based practice guidelines. There was also a resource: be-evidence-based.com offering a database of critically appraised research for those in the Social Care field. Site now archived on the Research in practice for adults (Ripfa) website.
Centre for Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy aims to carry out core analytical research that will allow informed microeconomic analysis of major public policy issues, from productivity growth to poverty reduction, and from promoting employment to ensuring sound public finances. Focus is on the careful modelling of individual, household and firm behaviour, combining cutting-edge empirical analysis with detailed understanding of policy options and implementation.
Centre for Public Policy see Centre for Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy
Centre for Research in Development, Instruction and Training (CREDIT) - explores fundamental processes of human learning and instruction.
Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends (CREST) - conducts and analyses social surveys of the general public, designed to document and explain changing patterns of voting behaviour, trends in social attitudes, and similarities and differences between Britain and other countries.
Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC) - aims to contribute to the fundamental understanding of the complex issues that underline and link together innovation and competitiveness.
Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) - explores and evaluates novel and legitimate forms of governance across different scales of geographical space and human communication, so that decisions about environmental futures are informed by everyone whose interests are at stake.
Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) - applies modern research methods to Africa's economic problems. Research is both microeconomic, with a focus on the problems facing individual producers (farms and firms) in Africa, and macroeconomic.
Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation (CSGR) - concerned with the study of globalisation and regionalisation in Europe.
Research Centre on Micro-Social Change - focused on identifying, explaining, modelling and forecasting social change in Britain at the individual and household level.
Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) - aims to examine the links between the acquisition and use of skills and knowledge, product market strategies and economic performance.
Transport Studies Unit - Current research includes work on bus fare elasticites; solving congestion; park and ride schemes; transport and the economy; monitoring the Oxford transport strategy.
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Research Programmes bring together UK researchers in a distributed network of between 20-25 projects. Individual projects are co-ordinated and supported centrally by programme directors and advisory committees. Funding for a programme is usually for a period of four to five years, with an average budget of £3-5 million. ESRC fund two to four new programmes each year.
Children 5 -16: Growing into the 21st Century - encompasses twenty two different projects. All have a common theme - looking at a children as social actors. Research will concentrate on four key areas of everyday life in a number of which children have been largely invisible: economic life, the policy and service context, family relationships and social networks and the physical and built environment.
CITIES: Competitiveness and Cohesion - directed from Liverpool John Moores University. Four major, integrated case studies are being undertaken (London, Bristol, Liverpool/Manchester, Glasgow/Edinburgh) as well as around 20 other projects on key research topics.
Democracy and Participation - encompasses twenty-one projects. The Programme addresses a number of key concerns about the current state of British democracy and participation.
Devolution and Constitutional Change - designed to build a critical mass of research capacity to provide rigorous analysis of the impact and outcomes of devolution. It aims to mobilise and develop insights from across the social sciences to gain a fuller understanding of the devolution dynamic and its implications for United Kingdom and to feed this research into policy making.
Economic Beliefs and Behaviour - aims to achieve a greater practical understanding of the questions raised by the increased importance of economic choice in everyday life and to reformulate the dominant approach to our understanding of how people behave in market society.
Evolution of Business Knowledge - aims to investigate the critical role which knowledge and learning play in competitiveness, business development and economic performance. Phase 1 of teh Programme is currently being commissioned.
Future Governance - closed January 2004, consisted of 30 research projects in the social sciences concerned with lesson drawing in public policy and policy transfer.
Future of Work - concerned with enhancing public understanding of the critical developments most likely to impact on people's working lives. A key objective is to systematically map past and present shifts and continuities.
Global Environmental Change - developing an understanding of the underlying social and economic drivers of environmental change, the impacts of environmental change on society and the policies and measures that address environmental problems.
Growing Older: Extending Quality of Life - consists of 24 research projects focussed on how to extend the quality of life in old age.
Health Variations Phase II - focused on the social determinants of health inequalities.
Innovative Health Technologies - examines the impact of new developments in health technology (genetics, imaging technologies, cloning and stem cell research) on society and explore the role that these changes will have on re-defining the way we manage and experience health care and medicine.
The Learning Society: Knowledge and Skills for Employment - project which ended in 200 and focused on post-compulsory education and training in a wide variety of contexts. The main aim was to harness the best ideas in the social sciences to facilitate steady progress towards becoming a learning society.
LINK Programme in Eating, Food and Health - aimed to provide the basis for a better understanding of factors leading to a healthier United Kingdom diet.
One Europe or Several? The Dynamics of Change Across Europe - examines contemporary processes of political, security, economic, social and cultural change across the European continent, as well as issues of convergence and divergence and prospects for integration and fragmentation.
People at the Centre of Communication and Information Technologies Research Programme (PACCIT) - ESRC/EPSRC/DTI programme began 2000 which aims, through strong academic and commercial research partnerships, to develop a much greater understanding of the psychological, social and organisational characteristics of individuals and groups as they relate to, and interact with, information technologies, and to feed this knowledge back into evaluation and design of more effective IT systems and products.
Population and Household Change - concerned with the causes and consequences of recent changes in the population structure of the United Kingdom.
Research Methods Programme - forms part of the ESRC's strategy to improve the standards of research methods across the UK social science community.
Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) - will develop, within a socio-economic framework, future research-based options for sustainable land use and aim to provide a body of evidence, supported by underpinning research, that can be used to inform policy and practice in this area.
Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) - aims to support research which will lead to improvements in the achievement of learners of all ages, in all sectors and contexts of education, training and lifelong learning throughout the United Kingdom.
Transnational Communities - will broaden understanding of the new and increasingly significant place of globe-spanning social networks in labour, business and commodity markets, political movements and cultural flows.
Understanding the Evolving Macroeconomy - to study the behaviour, governance and management of the UK economy in a rapidly changing world economic environment. It aims to improve understanding of how to enhance the performance of the UK economy and how domestic and international institutional arrangements might be improved to assist private sector decision making and economic management.
Violence Research Programme (VRP) - has two objectives: to expand and enhance our understanding of various forms of violence to the person and to offer evidence-based information about how violence might be prevented, reduced or eliminated
Virtual Society? - concerned with examining how people behave, organise themselves and interact as a result of electronic technologies.
Whitehall: The changing nature of Central Governance in Britain - aims to describe, explain and create an understanding of both recent and long-term changes in the nature of British government.
Youth, Citizenship and Social Change - aims to improve understanding of the ways in which young people aged 16-25 make the transition to adult life and provide details of the support and resources they need to become effective citizens of the 21st century.
This section provides access to other Research Centres within Universities that generate evidence across a range of social and economic issues.
CASS - Centre for Applied Social Surveys - Question Bank
The Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research (CCSR) - carries out research into Gender, employment and ethnic differences; locality based studies; the life-course, based on complex longitudinal studies and methodological research relating to census and survey data.
Centre for Economic Performance - leading international applied economics research institution, working on unemployment, inequality, productivity, economics of education, globalisation, technology and growth. The Centre's discussion paper series is downloadable free of charge at http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/
Centre for the Economics of Education (CEE) - combines the fields of economics, education and statistics in an interdisciplinary approach to research.
Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) - concerned with the collection, management and analysis of large scale, longitudinal data. The Centre holds responsibility for two of Britain's internationally renowned birth cohort studies, the National Child Development Study (1958 cohort) and the 1970 British Cohort Study. BHPS - The British Household Panel Study
Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice (CEMMAP) - provides a focus for development, understanding and application of methods for modelling individual behaviour, the influences on it and the impact of policy interventions. The Centre is a joint venture by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Department of Economics at University College London
Centre for the Study of Public Policy
Centre for Research in Social Policy - (CRSP, Loughborough University, UK) - aims to conduct research in the field of social policy; improve the quality and flow of information on which policy decisions are made; and promote contacts between policy makers, practitioners and the research community.
Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning - a government funded joint initiative between Birkbeck and the Institute of Education exploring the wider benefits of learning in two senses, looking at benefits beyond the economic, and also above that of the individual, at family, community, regional level and beyond.
The Data Archive - University of Essex (Formerly ESRC)
EDINA - Edinburgh Data and INformation Access, University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh University Data Library
European Social and Cultural Studies Centre, University of Sheffield (ESCUS) - aims to establish itself as a national and international centre of excellence in the study of European society and culture and of relevant aspects of EU policy, and to promote Sheffield University's activities in this field. Promotes interdisciplinary research among the social sciences, humanities and sciences.
Financial Econometrics Research Centre (FERC) Provides a focus for research in empirical finance and is a forum for the transfer of ideas between practitioners within the City of London and academics. FERC is a recognised centre for research excellence within Europe and provides a co-ordinating role for financial econometrics within UK. It forms part of the Warwick Finance Research Institute
Institute for Employment Research (IER) - focuses upon the operation of labour markets and socio-economic processes related to employment and unemployment in the UK at national, regional and local levels. It includes comparative European research on employment and training.
The Institute of Work Psychology is dedicated to conducting applied research in work settings, in both the public and private sectors. Staffed by research scientists and support staff, as well as a large group of postgraduate students (MSc and PhD).
Intute: Social Sciences - reborn version of SOSIG - the Social Science Information Gateway. FREE guide to the best of the web for social science
MIMAS - Manchester InforMation and Associated Services
NDAD - The UK National Digital Archive of Datasets
NISS - National Information Services and Systems, University of Bath
Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) - concerned with the development of policies and the delivery of services to support people made vulnerable by poverty, ageing, disability or chronic illness.
Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG) - see Intute University of Bristol
Tyndall Centre brings together scientists, economists, engineers and social scientists, who together are working to develop sustainable responses to climate change through trans-disciplinary research and dialogue on both a national and international level - not just within the research community, but also with business leaders, policy advisors, the media and the public in general. The site includes details of research programmes under 4 key themes, publications, events etc.
This section provides access to independent research institutes and centres that generate evidence on social and economic issues.
Centre for Economic Policy Research - focuses on policy-relevant economic analysis.
Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice (cemmap) - centre hosted by IFS for the development of evaluation methodology and other econometric and statistical methods.
Centre for Policy on Ageing - aims to formulate and promote social policies which will allow all older people to achieve the full potential of their later years.
CIVITAS Institute for the Study of a Civil Society - 'to deepen public understanding of the legal, institutional and moral framework that makes a free and democratic society possible'.
The Financial Markets Group Research Centre - Research is organised through four principal research programmes but deals with the following themes: Pensions, Risk Management and Regulation; Financial Econometrics and Quantitative Financial Analysis; Applied Corporate Finance; Corporate Governance; Market Microstructure; International Financial Stability.
Henley Centre - has developed tools and techniques to help public and private sector organisations understand how social behaviour is changing and how they need to respond. This includes scenario planning which enables organisations to assess the impact of change on the organisation and its stakeholders.
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) - concerned with providing economic analysis of public policy.
Institute for Volunteering Research - an initiative of the National Centre for Volunteering and The University of East London to bring together policy and practice to all those with an interest in volunteering and it's benefits to society.
National Centre for Social Research - concerned with the design, conduct and analysis of social surveys and qualitative research for the development and evaluation of public policy.
National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) - concerned with providing, through quantitative research, an understanding of the interaction of economic and social forces that affect people's lives.
Political Economy Research Centre (PERC, Sheffield University, UK) - an interdisciplinary research centre which focuses on policy problems raised by the current transformation of the world economy.
Policy Studies Institute (PSI) - undertakes and publishes research studies relevant to social, economic and industrial policy.
Public Management Foundation - concerned with the investigation of issues related to the provision of public services.
Tavistock Institute - seeks to apply social science ideas and methods to problems of policy and practice.
The Regulatory Policy Institute (RPI) - an independent research organisation concerned with the promotion of the study for the public benefit of all aspects of regulatory policy (being the regulation of business activity by official or governmental authority).
This section provides access to international research collaborations that generate evidence to support well-informed decisions on health, social and education policy and practice by preparing, maintaining, and promoting access to systematic reviews of research studies.
The Campbell Collaboration [C2] aims to help people make well-informed decisions by preparing, maintaining, and promoting access to systematic reviews of studies on the effects of social and educational policies and practices.
The Campbell [C2] Crime & Justice Coordinating Group is an international network of individuals that will prepare, update and rapidly disseminate systematic reviews of high-quality research conducted worldwide, on effective methods to reduce crime and delinquency or improve justice.
The Campbell [C2] Education Coordinating Group is an international network of volunteer professionals who will prepare, update and rapidly disseminate systematic reviews of high-quality educational and training interventions conducted worldwide that are aimed to improve education and learning.
The Campbell [C2] Social Welfare Coordinating Group (SWCG) is an international network of people interested in the effects of social programs, who prepare, update, and disseminate high-quality systematic reviews of research conducted worldwide on effective methods to promote social welfare, health, and social justice.
Cochrane Collaboration - concerned with preparing, maintaining and promoting the accessibility of systematic reviews of the effects of health care interventions.
Sustainable Development Research network (SDRN) - website of a Defra funded initiative which seeks to improve the use of research and evidence in policy for sustainable development.
Think tanks are organisations that produce and disseminate policy relevant information by providing advice and ideas generated by discussion, data analysis and research.
Adam Smith Institute - objective is to promote research into market economics and to develop viable market-based policies for governments.
Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) - an independent think tank which develops and publishes public policy proposals.
DEMOS - an independent think tank that aims to reinvigorate public policy and political thinking and to develop radical solutions to long term problems.
Employers and Work-life Balance - run by The Work Foundation. Includes regular research publications which have a policy focus (these are free to download).
Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) - an independent think tank that aims to deliver far-reaching and realistic policy solutions.
Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) - goal is to explain free-market ideas to the public, including politicians, students, journalists, businessmen, academics and anyone interested in public policy.
New Economics Foundation (NEF) - seeks to create solutions to the social, environmental and economic challenges facing the local, regional, national and global economies.
New Local Government Network (NLGN) - promotes thinking about the modernisation agenda for local government.
New Policy Institute (NPI) - mission is to advance social justice in a market economy.
Social Market Foundation (SMF) - was established to provide a source of economic and social policy ideas.
The Work Foundation - includes regular research publications which have a policy focus (these are free to download).
The United Kingdom Research Councils are established under Royal Charter to fulfil the objectives set out by Government in the White Paper 'Realising our Potential' dated May 1993. Statutory control of the Councils is exercised by the Department of Trade and Industry, supported by the Director-General of Research Councils, within the Office of Science and Technology.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) - a funding agency for academic research and training in the biosciences at universities and institutes throughout the United Kingdom.
Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) - one of the United Kingdom's research councils who, between them, provide the support required for university science and engineering research programmes.
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) - a United Kingdom research funding and training agency addressing economic and social concerns. It aims to provide research on issues of importance to business, the public sector and government.
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) - funds research and postgraduate training in universities and other organisations throughout the United Kingdom.
Medical Research Council (MRC) - promotes research into all areas of medical and related science with the aims of improving the health and quality of life of the United Kingdom public and contributing to the wealth of the nation.
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) - provides independent research and training in the environmental sciences.
Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) - funds United Kingdom research, education and public understanding in its four broad areas of science - particle physics, astronomy, cosmology and space science.
This section provides access to independent organisations that fund and disseminate research on social and economic issues.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) - an independent social policy research and development charity. It supports a wide programme of research and development projects in housing, social care and social policy.
Kings Fund - works for better health in London.
Nuffield Foundation - an independent charity that supports self contained projects which advance education or social welfare, often by means of research or practical innovation.
Nuffield Trust - promotes independent analysis and debate on United Kingdom health care policies.
This section provides access to membership organisations that promote the development and use of social and economic research in specific fields or disciplines.
Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences - represents the social sciences of the United Kingdom and is composed of 278 Academicians and 43 Learned Societies.
Association for Research in the Voluntary and Community Sector (ARVAC) - aims to promote effective community action through research.
Association of Qualitative Research (AQR) - represents the interests of its members, currently some 1,150 individuals, who are directly involved in qualitative research.
British Sociological Association (BSA) - the professional organisation representing sociologists in Britain.
Market Research Society (MRS) - the professional body for individuals employed in market research or with an interest in it.
The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) - provides a forum for all who are interested in statistics.
Social Policy Association (SPA) - a professional association open for membership to academics and practitioners working in social policy, and to others with an interest in British and international social policy.
Social Research Association (SRA) - founded in the United Kingdom in 1978 to advance the conduct, development and application of social research.
Society of Business Economists (SBE) - aims to advance the use of economic analysis as a tool to support business decision-making and to enhance the standing of the professional economist working outside academia.
United Kingdom Evaluation Society (UKES) - concerned with promoting and improving the theory, practice understanding and utilisation of evaluation and its contribution to public knowledge.
See international evidence for advice on how to decide whether a piece of evidence is useful.