The challenge of connecting research to policy has been a long-standing subject of debate and there are a multitude of approaches globally.  

The COVID pandemic further concentrated minds on the need for researchers to produce work relevant to policy-makers, but equally for policy-makers to make their needs known to researchers. 

The HRB’s Evidence for Policy (EfP) communications initiative launched earlier this year is designed to strengthen Evidence-Informed Decision-Making (EIDM) by promoting mutual understanding between the two. 

Throughout the year we have published expert tips and provided guidance and perspectives from national and international researchers and policy-makers in the form of blogs, short videos, webinars and podcasts. These resources are all made available on a dedicated webpage on the HRB website and promoted on social media. 

Podcasts 

A major component was the introduction of The Health Research Podcast, which has attracted 3,000 views to date and is available in video and audio formats. It features national and international experts shedding light on many of the challenges involved in developing best-practice EIDM. 

For instance, Dr Thomas Hemmelgarn, Head of the EU Policy Lab, explained the process by which the European Commission develops policy through a formalised framework, which notably, involves stakeholder engagement. 

On the first episode, behavioural scientist Dr Pete Lunn, from the Economic & Social Research Institute, also spoke about stakeholders saying researchers should seek consensus by involving them when communicating evidence. 

On the second episode, Dr Anna Visser from the Department of the Taoiseach pointed out that sometimes research raises issues that may need policy responses and that there is flexibility within the stages of policy formulation in Ireland to allow for this. She also highlighted a real world guide to policy development published by her Department as a useful tool to better understand EIPM. 

Webinars  

We have also hosted webinars subsequently published on YouTube which include Professor Kathryn Oliver of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine discussing the approach to knowledge brokerage within the UK government where she previously worked.  

She presented on Areas of Research Interest (ARIs), which are a structured way for government departments to signal evidence needs to the research and evidence community. 

She explained how this innovation shifts engagement from ad hoc relationships to more systemic co-ordination between government officials on one side and researchers and funders on the other. 

This theme was picked up in a webinar featuring Dr Paul Cairney, Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Stirling. He questioned whether there was a common understanding of knowledge brokerage as a concept and suggested researchers might be more influential if they recognised the political and human realities faced by policy-makers. 

Top tips 

We invited some HRB-funded researchers who have successfully influenced policy to share short expert-tip videos which are among content promoted successfully on social media. 

Among those were, Dr Sarah Burke of Trinity College Dublin sharing her experience of bringing about a change to the rollout of new health regions through stakeholder consultation.  

And Dr Declan Devane of Evidence Synthesis Ireland and Cochrane Ireland explained how regular engagement with decision-makers to establish their needs, including timelines, assisted the Government in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Blogs  

Blogs have been published supplementing some of the webinars and providing details of published research, illustrating EIDM in action.  

For example, HRB Research Officer Dr Deirdre Mongan wrote an overview of a report based on longitudinal data under the Growing Up in Ireland study, analysing the relationship between substance and childhood adversity.  

This is part of a series of papers published through a collaborative research project in conjunction with Trinity College Dublin carried out at the request of the Department Children. 

Bigger picture  

The communications around EfP dovetails with the HRB’s broader work in this area which includes the production of evidence reviews and briefs to inform health and social care policy as well as our Evidence for Policy (EfP) Funding Programme which, in collaboration with the Department of Health, has to date invested €3.6 million in ten projects.  

Conclusion 

Our aim was to build more awareness of how EfP works, and to signpost researchers and policy-makers to well-informed best-practice.  

By promoting continuous engagement and knowledge exchange, aided by a bank of accessible resources that will continue to build throughout 2026, we hope that the EfP communications initiative ultimately supports the aim of developing health and social care policies grounded in strong evidence and responsive to real-world needs.