What makes evidence credible – or usable – for policy?

The 2026 Governance and Public Policy Research Centre (GPPRC) Annual Lecture on ‘What makes evidence credible – or usable – for policy?’ will be delivered by Professor Kathryn Oliver (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). Professor Oliver is a renowned expert on the use of evidence in policymaking.

Debates about the role of evidence in policymaking have tended to focus primarily on how to increase the influence of academic research evidence on policy. Much research has focused on the barriers/facilitators of evidence use, or on multiplying the many routes by which evidence is delivered to policymakers. This approach to the role of knowledge in policy sidesteps the question of what types of knowledge are used and valued in policymaking, and how different forms of knowledge may interact with policy. Drawing on 55 interviews with policymakers and academics, it explores how what how credibility and usability is assessed through personal and institutional characteristics and processes. This allows us to understand the broader strengths and limitations of different forms of knowledge within the policy arena. Finally, the lecture offers some reflections on the implications for researchers and research institutions.

The lecture will be followed by reactions from two academics from the School for Policy Studies with extensive experience of using evidence to shape policy across different fields: Professor Sarah Ayres and Dr Catherine Dodds. The floor will then be opened to Q&A from the audience.

The GPPRC is located within the University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies; its research strengths lie in understanding and leveraging the policy process in the service of positive social change.

Biography of keynote speaker

Professor Kathryn Oliver is a social scientist with interests in how evidence is made and used in public policy, particularly around theorising this relationship and evaluating interventions which seek to improve evidence use. After training as a molecular biologist, she moved into social sciences and public health, conducting systematic reviews for policymakers, at the EPPI Centre at University College London (UCL).

She has worked with regional and local governments and health bodies to explore the factors which influence evidence use in decision-making. She has held research and teaching posts at Manchester, Oxford and UCL, and is now at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Recently she has worked closely with the Government Office for Science, and with funders and science advisors to improve the science system. With Annette Boaz, she co-directs the Transforming Evidence initiative, a global collaborative seeking to bring together learning and practice from different sectors and disciplines to improve research on evidence use. She is now the inaugural Director of the NIHR’s Policy Research Programme.

The event will be held in Lecture Theatre 3

Overview of the event (timings approximate)

16.00-16.05: Introduction

Professor Gabriel Siles-Brügge, Head of the Governance and Public Policy Research Centre, School for Policy Studies (SPS), University of Bristol

16.05-16.50: Keynote Lecture

Professor Kathryn Oliver, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Title: What makes evidence credible – or usable – for policy?

16.50-17.10: Discussant remarks

Chair: Professor Gabriel Siles-Brügge, SPS, University of Bristol

Discussants: Professor Sarah Ayres (SPS, University of Bristol), Dr Catherine Dodds (SPS, University of Bristol)

17.10-17.45: Q&A with the audience

17.45-18.30: Networking reception (just outside Lecture Theatre 3, Arts Complex)

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