British Academy Evidence-Informed Policymaking Grants

Support for ODA-eligible projects that inform policymaking through quality evidence and research. Researchers can be based in the UK, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam and/or Least Developed Countries.

Established by Royal Charter in 1902, the British Academy is a registered charity and the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. It champions these fields by investing in research, engaging with the public and influencing policy.

Through the Evidence-Informed Policymaking Grants, the Academy invites applications for researchers to work with peers around the world to inform policymaking through quality evidence and research. This call is supported from the UK’s International Science Partnerships Fund, which is managed by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

The aim is to support international collaborations between researchers, policymakers and practitioners in the UK and those in Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam and/or Least Developed Countries. In the context of this call, funding from the International Science Partnerships Fund is funded by Official Development Assistance (ODA), therefore applications for this funding must be ODA-eligible. Only research that has a primary objective that is directly and primarily relevant to the problems of developing countries may be counted as ODA.

Through this programme, the Academy wishes to develop and enhance the evidence base related to informing policymaking with research. It is recognised that this is a broad field of research and activity with multiple intersecting and often, but not always, complementary disciplinary communities and policy sectors working on the issues either from a theoretical or practice perspective. It is an important aim for the Academy to start to establish mutually supporting communities of practice in the longer term so duplication of effort and overly siloed research and practice is avoided.

The Academy wishes to support awards that work in the following fields:

• Environment, sustainability and nature.
• Transformative technologies.
• Health and wellbeing.
• Cities and urbanisation.
• Global order, geopolitics and international affairs.

Proposals can focus on a specific level of policymaking, or compare across levels, such as at national, regional or local levels. There is not an expectation for applications to have to cover multiple levels unless it is desired and fits with the proposed aims of the application. In this programme, sites of policy decision-making can be situated in diverse situations from formal national and/or government structures to decision-making processes at local and community policy levels.