EDI in academic–policy engagement: lived experience of university based knowledge brokers and marginalised academics

Authors:
Laura Bea University of Southampton, UK

Search for other papers by Laura Bea in
Current site
Google Scholar Close
and
Alejandra Recio-Saucedo University of Southampton, UK

Search for other papers by Alejandra Recio-Saucedo in
Current site
Google Scholar Close
Article Category:
Research Article
Copyright:
© Authors 2025
Online Publication Date:
22 Jul 2024
Pages:
46–70
Publisher:
Policy Press
Volume/Issue:
Volume 21: Issue 1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1332/17442648Y2024D000000030
Restricted access
Get eTOC alerts
Rights and permissions Cite this article
Buy article/chapter (
GBP  £25.00
)

Background:

Discourse surrounding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) has received significant attention within the UK academy and knowledge brokerage contexts, and more recently within academic–policy engagement spaces (Walker et al, 2019a; Fawcett, 2021; GOV.UK, 2021; Morris et al, 2021). Key players in this space identify the need for diversifying academic participation, as well as diversifying knowledges (GOV.UK, 2021; UK Parliament, 2018; UKRI, 2023). However, conceptual and practical insight on embedding EDI principles (and what they mean in this context) within academic–policy engagement processes is missing.

Aims and objectives:

Underpinned by feminist and decolonial epistemological concepts, this article addresses this gap by outlining strategies, and surfacing ways in which EDI within academic–policy engagement is experienced, conceptualised, understood and considered.

Methods:

Two parallel qualitative studies, with a total of 20 semi-structured narrative and realist interviews conducted with marginalised researchers (n=10, Study A) and university based knowledge brokers (n=10, Study B), and a rapid literature review. The analysis used a narrative and thematic framework.

Findings and discussion:

We found a want for EDI to go beyond just diversity of people and representation, towards fostering foundational principles of epistemic justice, equitable access, value-driven engagement and plurality. Academics and knowledge brokers reported both negative and positive experiences within this space that related to known EDI issues. We conclude that EDI cannot be standardised across higher education contexts, and emphasise the need for holistic, relational and plural approaches to EDI across academic–policy engagement systems through a value-led, equitable and ethical lens.

  • Adelaine, A., Kalinga, C., Asani, F., Ngozika Agbakoba, R., Smith, N., Adisa, O. et al (2020) Knowledge is power—an open letter To UKRI, opinion letter, research professional news, https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-views-of-the-uk-2020-8-knowledge-is-power-an-open-letter-to-ukri/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Amnesty International (2018) Toxic Twitter – A Toxic Place for Women, online report, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2018/03/online-violence-against-women-chapter-1-1/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Blackbell, D., Bea, L., Bibby, N., Chard, K., Divecha, S., Millar, G., et al (2023) Conference paper: utilising WPR to strengthen reflexive capacities in academic-policy engagement practice, International Critical Policy Studies Symposium, Sweden 2023.

  • Bonel, C., Meiksin, R., Mays, N., Petticrew, M. and McKee, M. (2018) Defending evidence informed policy making from ideological attack, BMJ: British Medical Journal, 362, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26961726.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Boswell, C., Smith, K. and Davies, C. (2022) Rethinking Policy Impact: Promoting Ethical and Effective Policy Engagement in the Higher Education Sector, Edinburgh: Royal Society of Edinburgh, UKRI.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bradbury, H. and Divecha, S. (2020) Action methods for faster transformation: relationality in action, Action Research, 18(3): 273–81. doi: 10.1177/1476750320936493

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Brunner, C. (2021) Conceptualizing epistemic violence: an interdisciplinary assemblage for IR, International Politics Reviews, 9(1): 193–212. doi: 10.1057/s41312-021-00086-1

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Cairney, P. and Oliver, K. (2017) Evidence-based policymaking is not like evidence-based medicine, so how far should you go to bridge the divide between evidence and policy?, Health Research Policy and Systems, 15: 35. doi: 10.1186/s12961-017-0192-x

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Campbell, R. and Childs, S. (2013) The impact imperative: here come the women :-), Political Studies Review, 11(2): 182–9. doi: 10.1111/1478-9302.12008

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Canfield, K.N., Menezes, S., Matsuda, S.B., Moore, A., Mosley Austin, A.N., Dewsbury, B.M., et al (2020) Science communication demands a critical approach that centers inclusion, equity, and intersectionality, Frontiers in Communication, 5: 2. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2020.00002

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Coe, J. (2023) Michelle Donelan writes to UKRI over ‘jobs for Hamas terrorist sympathisers’, WonkHE, 29 October, https://wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/michelle-donelan-writes-to-ukri-over-jobs-for-hamas-terrorist-sympathisers/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Davies, H., Nutley, S. and Smith, P. (2000) What Works? Evidence-based Policy and Practice in Public Services, Bristol: Policy Press.

  • Dickinson, J. (2023) Michelle Donelan ‘kicks woke ideology out of science’, WonkHE, 4 October, https://wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/michelle-donelan-kicks-woke-ideology-out-of-science/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Doucet, F. (2019) Centering the Margins: (Re)defining Useful Research Evidence Through Critical Perspectives, report, New York, NY: William T. Grant Foundation, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED609713.pdf.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Durrant, H. and MacKillop, E. (2022) University policy engagement bodies in the UK and the variable meanings of and approaches to impact, Research Evaluation, 31(3): 372–84. doi: 10.1093/reseval/rvac015

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Fafard, P. (2015) Beyond the usual suspects: using political science to enhance public health policy making, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 69(11): 1129–132. doi: 10.1136/jech-2014-204608

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Fawcett, L. (2021) Opening Up Parliament: Barriers to Engagement and Participatory Potential – What Academics Think, London: Universities Policy Engagement Network, pp 1–13, https://policycommons.net/artifacts/1926514/upen-opening-up-parliament-report/2678284/ on 09 Jul 2024. CID: 20.500.12592/p65zgw.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Flinders, M. and Chaytor, S. (2021) Opinion: knowledge brokers need career paths too, UCL News, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/apr/opinion-knowledge-brokers-need-career-paths-too.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Giles, G. (2020) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Survey Report and 2 Year Plan, Southampton: University of Southampton, Public Policy Southampton, pp 1–26.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • GOV.UK (2021) UK Research and Development Roadmap, policy paper, London: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-research-and-development-roadmap.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Gray, M. (2021) Data and EDI in knowledge exchange, The Culture Capital Exchange, 29 November, https://tcce.co.uk/2021/11/29/data-and-edi-in-knowledge-exchange/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Greenhalgh, T., Parson, R., Wong, G., Westhorp, G., Greenhalgh, J., Manzano, A. and Jagdish, J. (2017) RAMESES II reporting standards for realist evaluations, BMC medicine, 14(1): 96. doi: 10.1186/s12916-016-0643-1

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Grewal, M. (2021) There are so many reasons why EDI is not the answer, Times Higher Education, https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/there-are-so-many-reasons-why-edi-not-answer.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hacking, I. (1992) Book review of Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society, by Bruno Latour, Philosophy of Science, 59(3): 510–12. doi: 10.1086/289690

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Haraway, D. (1988) Situated knowledges: the science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective, Feminist Studies, 14(3): 575–99. doi: 10.2307/3178066

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Harding, S. (1992) Rethinking standpoint epistemology: what is ‘STRONG OBJECTIVITY?’, The Centennial Review, 36(3): 437–70.

  • Harris, S. (2002) Modernising governance: the impact on policy and research communities in the United Kingdom, International Studies in Sociology of Education, 12(3): 319–34. doi: 10.1080/09620210200200096

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Head, B.W. (2016) Toward more ‘evidence-informed’ policy making?, Public Administration Review, 76(3): 472–84. doi: 10.1111/puar.12475

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Heidari, S. (2015) Knowledge, evidence, practice and power, Reproductive Health Matters, 23(45): 1–6.

  • Hopkins, A., Oliver, K., Boaz, A., Guillot-Wright, S. and Cairney, P. (2021) Are research-policy engagement activities informed by policy theory and evidence? 7 challenges to the UK impact agenda, Policy Design and Practice, 4(3): 341–56. doi: 10.1080/25741292.2021.1921373

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Jagannathan, K., Emmanuel, G., Arnott, J., Mach, K.J., Bamzai-Dodson, A., Goodrich, K., et al (2023) A research agenda for the science of actionable knowledge: drawing from a review of the most misguided to the most enlightened claims in the science-policy interface literature, Environmental Science & Policy, 144: 174–86.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Jovchelovitch, S. and Bauer, M.W. (2000) Narrative interviewing, in M.W. Bauer and G. Gaskell (eds) Qualitative Researching With Text, IMAge and Sound: A Practical Handbook, London: Sage Publications, pp 57–74, http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/2633/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kharisma, N., Carden, F. and Antlöv, H. (2023) Decolonizing evidence-informed policy and development interventions: a diversity of knowledge sources as a hallmark of effective development initiatives and healthy policymaking, Social Science Research Network, online view. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.4359453

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Latour, B. (1987) Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

  • MacKillop, E. and Downe, J. (2023) Knowledge brokering organisations: a new way of governing evidence, Evidence & Policy, 19(1): 22–41.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • McNeil, M. (2013) Between a rock and a hard place: the deficit model, the diffusion model and publics in STS, Science as Culture, 22(4): 589–608. doi: 10.1080/14636778.2013.764068

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Morris, S., Pike, L., Prince, M., Renberg Fawcett, K., Stevenson, O. and Watson, K. (2021) Surfacing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion within Academic-Policy Engagement, London: Universities Policy Engagement Network, https://upen.ac.uk/resources/surfacing-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-within-academic-policy-engagement/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Nugroho, K., Carden, F. and Antlöv, H. (2023) Decolonizing evidence-informed policy and development interventions: a diversity of knowledge sources as a hallmark of effective development initiatives and healthy policymaking, Social Science Research Network. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.4359453

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Oliver, K. and Boaz, A. (2019) Transforming evidence for policy and practice: creating space for new conversations, Palgrave Communications, 5(1). doi: 10.1057/s41599-019-0266-1

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Oliver, K., Hopkins, A., Boaz, A., Guillot-Wright, S. and Cairney, P. (2022) What works to promote research-policy engagement?, Evidence & Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice, 18(4). doi: 10.1332/174426421x16420918447616

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Packwood, A. (2002) Evidence-based policy: rhetoric and reality, Social Policy and Society, 1(3): 267–72. doi: 10.1017/s1474746402003111

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Quijano, A. (1993) Modernity, identity, and utopia in Latin America, boundary 2, 20(3): 140. doi: 10.2307/303346

  • Quijano, A. (2000) Coloniality of power and eurocentrism in Latin America, International Sociology, 15(2): 215–32. doi: 10.1177/0268580900015002005

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Ramani, S. (2011) Decolonising knowledge systems, Economic and Political Weekly, 46(30): 17–19.

  • Rattu, K., Renberg-Fawcett, K. and Stevenson, O. (2020) Surfacing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Academic-Policy Engagement, Edinburgh: Royal Society of Edinburgh, https://rse.org.uk/resource/surfacing-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-in-academic-policy-engagement/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Reddel, T. and Ball, S. (2021) Knowledge coproduction: panacea or placebo? Lessons from an emerging policy partnership, Policy Design and Practice, 1–14. doi: 10.1080/25741292.2021.1992106

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Reed, M.S. and Rudman, H. (2023) Re-thinking research impact: voice, context and power at the interface of science, policy and practice, Sustainability Science, 18: 967–81. doi: 10.1007/s11625-022-01216-w

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Rose, D.C., Kenny, C., Hobbs, A. and Tyler, C. (2020) Improving the use of evidence in legislatures: the case of the UK Parliament, Evidence & Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice. doi: 10.1332/174426420x15828100394351

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Royal Irish Academy (2021) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education in Ireland and Northern Ireland, discussion paper, 5–24, https://www.ria.ie/assets/uploads/2024/06/he_futures_-_equality_diversity_and_inclusion_discussion_paper_0.pdf.

  • Rycroft‐Smith, L. (2022) Knowledge brokering to bridge the research‐practice gap in education: where are we now?, Review of Education, 10(1): e3341. doi: 10.1002/rev3.3341

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Senedd (2023) Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, Cardiff: Welsh Parliament, pp 6–37, https://senedd.wales/media/ixifunhc/di-strategy-en.pdf.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Simis, M.J., Madden, H., Cacciatore, M.A. and Yeo, S.K. (2016) The lure of rationality: why does the deficit model persist in science communication?, Public Understanding of Science, 25(4): 400–14. doi: 10.1177/0963662516629749

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Suldovsky, B. (2016) In science communication, why does the idea of the public deficit always return? Exploring key influences, Public Understanding of Science, 25(4): 415–26. doi: 10.1177/0963662516629750

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Suldovsky, B. (2017) The Information Deficit Model and climate change communication, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science, online view. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.301

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • UK Parliament and POST (2018) Academics’ Perceptions of Barriers to Engaging with Parliament, London: UK Parliament, https://www.ukri.org/what-we-do/supporting-healthy-research-and-innovation-culture/equality-diversity-and-inclusion/edi-overview/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • UKRI (2023) Our work in equality, diversity and inclusion, www.ukri.org.

  • University of Oxford (2021) Oxford Policy Engagement Network (OPEN) Strategy 2021-2024, https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/field/field_document/OPEN%20Strategy%202021-2024%20%28branded%29.pdf.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Walker, L., Pike, L., Chambers, C., Lawrence, N., Wood, M. and Durrant, H. (2019a) Understanding and navigating the landscape of evidence-based policy recommendations for improving academic-policy engagement, Bath and Bristol: The University of Bath Institute for Policy Research (IPR) and Policy Bristol, https://www.bath.ac.uk/publications/understanding-and-navigating-the-landscape-of-evidence-based-policy/attachments/understanding-and-navigating-the-landscape-of-evidence-based-policy.pdf.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Walker, L.A., Lawrence, N.S., Chambers, C.D., Wood, M., Barnett, J., Durrant, H., et al (2019b) Supporting evidence-informed policy and scrutiny: a consultation of UK research professionals, PLOS ONE, 14(3): e0214136. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214136

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • West, S., Haider, L.J., Stålhammar, S. and Woroniecki, S. (2020) A relational turn for sustainability science? Relational thinking, leverage points and transformations, Ecosystems and People, 16(1): 304–25.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Williams, A. (2010) Is evidence-based policy making really possible? Reflections for policymakers and academics on making use of research in the work of policy, JSTOR. doi: 10.1017/9789048513086.016

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
Laura Bea University of Southampton, UK

Search for other papers by Laura Bea in
Current site
Google Scholar Close
and
Alejandra Recio-Saucedo University of Southampton, UK

Search for other papers by Alejandra Recio-Saucedo in
Current site
Google Scholar Close

leb3g16@soton.ac.uk
ars@ecs.soton.ac.uk

Content Metrics

May 2022 onwards Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 6744 6467 66
Full Text Views 343 314 2
PDF Downloads 370 337 3

Altmetrics

Dimensions

Cover Evidence & Policy
Evidence & Policy
A journal of research, debate and practice