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Public Policy|Southampton

Learn the basics of how to get your voice heard

Thea Kouraki
Thea Kouraki

As the newest member of the PublicPolicy|Southampton team and the Secretariat of the Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) over the course of the 2018-2019 academic year, I had the opportunity to learn a huge amount in a short time about how policy is created in the UK context. However, I’m aware that there is plenty that I don’t know about the machinations of the Mother of Parliaments. This is why I leapt at the chance to attend a free entry one-hour workshop organised by the UK Parliament in Portcullis House in London. The aim of the workshop was to familiarise attendees with the roles of each of the Houses of Parliament, how a Bill becomes an Act and -the most importantly for researchers - to learn how to get their evidence in to the decision making process.

The course filled many of the gaps in the knowledge I have accrued during that last 11 months working in the academic/policy nexus. There were parts that were useful to know and have not bothered to ask anyone or read further about, up to this point. For instance, what are the stages of an inquiry, what do people mean when they say parliamentary ping pong, or what the current percentage of women MPs is (about 1/3) and how many signatures are needed in order for the Government to respond to an e-petition (10.000). The workshop was a well-structured and useful introduction to anyone with an interest in Parliament, politics and policy. Perhaps most valuable was the opportunity to pose questions to the Knowledge Exchange Unit at the end of the session.

In particular, the session included useful information on:

If you would like a crash course in all things Parliament does, you can sign up for free here at upcoming events.

The events are open to anyone who wants to learn more about the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

At this point, it is worth to mention that, as part of the UK Parliament’s strategy to enhance engagement with various audiences, almost a year ago, the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology, launched the ‘Knowledge Exchange Unit', which serves as a first point of contact for any researcher wishing to work with or find out more about UK Parliament. In addition, Knowledge Exchange Unit organises trainings through the ‘Parliament for Researchers’ scheme, especially designed for researchers and those working in higher education. ‘How to’ guides and other useful information in ways to engage with UK Parliament can be found here. Finally, if you are on Twitter, you can follow them here:  https://twitter.com/ukparl_research.

This is why Public Policy Units and Knowledge Exchange Brokers can play an important role within the Universities.

 

Thea Kouraki holds a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology and a MSc in Marketing and Communications. She is a member of the Public Policy|Southampton team since September 2018. 

 

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