The 10 commandments for influencing policymakers

Thank you Nick, excellent article and useful reading for my postgraduate students in environmental management and policy.

When you wrote > Far too many academic papers that could have an impact on policy (including the IFS one on graduate earnings) include brilliant analyses followed by weak policy conclusions that read as if they have been added at the last moment. Did you mean weak in terms of not being decisive, or that not enough time was put into crafting the recommendation? Also, I'm worried what is lost in this discussion is the importance of having a *salubrious* influence on policymaking, not just how to 'have a big impact'. If your paper leads to policy that is disastrous, you still have had an IMPACT.

I am fortunate enough to have had a number of the ideas developed from research turn into policy, including Willetts interventions. I just wished to say that so much in the article really resonates with my own experiences Nick, and these days I find myself acting more and more as a translator for my academic friends. So much research ends with what research needs to be done next, not the way that the hindsights and associated insights might inform foresight. I also recall a very, very senior politician stating out loud that high end academic journals are not fit for their purpose, simply because whilst their methods are strong, their vision messaging is weak, and I this might be what you are alluding to? It is certainly a message that has stuck with me. Your points about policy memory are extremely well made. I recall agreements made just prior to a ministerial change, and when I went back 6 weeks later only one of the original team remained and knew what I was referencing. Strangely enough some of it appeared in a Prime Minister's advisor's paper, but of course contained no citation or cross referencing to the colleague who actually undertook the research! Thanks again for your insights, they really help me to refocus.

Thanks. That all sounds like good advice. But there is one more problem that you don't mention. The biggest problem that I've encountered in trying to influence government policy is in discovering who to write to. Trying to discover the email address of civil servants is like trying to get blood from a stone. When I've succeeded in finding the right person there have been some fruitful interchanges (until they get moved to a different job) , but that's rare. Usually you get shunted to a press officer or PR person who is more interested in defending government policy than in discussion of evidence. Do you think that there's a case for a bit more transparency?