Routes to Public Policy Engagement Panel: Success stories from Brunel colleagues

Research impact is in Brunel’s DNA. There is a great breadth of high-quality research undertaken at Brunel with the potential for significant impact in public policy. This ranges from engineering developments that can support the government in reaching net zero targets, to understanding how different interventions change public health and behaviour, to analysis of the benefits and risks of AI implementation, to environmental monitoring research that could inform interventions and regulations in this space, and much more.

But how exactly can academics and researchers ensure their research reaches relevant policy makers in a way that they might engage with it and take the findings on board when formulating policy? There are a wide range of ways to do this, and this panel will showcase diverse success stories from different fields of research, each finding a different way to reach policy makers and make impact.

Panel

Professor Gareth Taylor, Professor of Power Systems and Director of Brunel Interdisciplinary Power Systems (BIPS) Research Centre. Professor Taylor has been a member of BIPS since 2000 and was appointed as director in 2010. He has a substantial body of research in Smart Grids; Renewable Energy Systems; Micro-generation; Reactive power & voltage control; Power systems & network communications and information systems; Power system & network operation; Power system economics & electricity markets. Gareth frequently engages with government consultations and regulatory bodies. He has been an active member of OFGEM’s working group on their ‘Long Term Development Statement’ since 2022, was appointed as a member of the data and advisory group to the National Grid Electrical System Operator (ESO) in 2023, and in 2024 he was appointed as a UK representative for an international standardisation committee IEC TC 57 ‘Power systems management and associated information exchange’.

In this panel, Gareth will speak on how he managed to raise his profile with regulators and other bodies that oversee standards and operations in the field of power systems and networks, such that he was called upon to join their working and advisory groups. He will also introduce what such roles involve, and how they bring outputs from research into regulatory and working frameworks.

Dr Eleni Iacovidou, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management and Director of Brunel Centre for Pollution Research and Policy. Dr Iacovidou’s research focuses on environmental management, with a particular focus on resource and waste management systems. She pioneered the development of Complex Value Optimisation for Resource Recovery (CVORR), a systems-based analytical tool that integrates environmental, economic, social, political, and technical dimensions in systems assessment and decision-making. CVORR enables the identification of systemic barriers and the mapping of leverage points for intervention, offering practical insights to industry leaders, policymakers, and regulators seeking to design sustainable, resilient, and circular solutions. She has a strong track record of funded and published research in this field.

In this panel, Eleni will talk about how she drew on a global analysis of deposit return schemes (DRS) that she worked on to provide valuable guidance for effective implementation in the UK. She will highlight how bringing timely and practical advice to the right people at the right time resulted in fruitful discussions with the policy team working on implementation of the DRS scheme in the UK.

Prof Yiannis Karavias, Professor in Finance. Prof Karavias’ research interest interests lie in the evaluation of economic policies and interventions and in developing the appropriate statistical tools that will make these evaluations possible. Methodological interests include the analysis of panel data and of randomized control trials. His work in these areas has been published in highly ranked journals and cited extensively.

In this panel, Yiannis will speak on his recent project to evaluate the impact and economic benefit of a domestic violence and abuse police intervention in the UK, which was commissioned by the Home Office. He will speak about how academics can engage in work commissioned by government departments, and show this as an example where his results revealed clear economical and societal benefits, which made it interesting to policy makers beyond those who originally commissioned the research.

Chair: Dr Manu Savani, Senior Lecturer in Behavioural Public Policy. Dr Savani’s research interests lie in behavioural public policy, and how behavioural economics can support policy outcomes. She has a strong track record in engaging with policy, both through pro-actively working with policy makers and responding to inquiries and consultations. Prior to her academic career, she was an economist at the UK Government's Department for International Development. 

OIT Panel Discussants

Our speaker panel will be joined by policy advisors from the Open Innovation Team, who will share their expertise on how to engage in policy making processes and when and how to convey your messages to policy makers in response to questions from the Chair, audience and panel. The Open Innovation Team is a cross-government unit that works with academics and other experts to help generate analysis and ideas for policy. Through their partnerships with Universities including Brunel, OIT also help academics understand how they can work more effectively with government.

James Waddell is a Senior Policy Advisor in the Open Innovation Team, where he has led policy research and analysis projects on AI, the cultural heritage and creative industries, and digital identities. He formerly worked as a journalist at The Economist, and holds a PhD in early modern English literature from UCL.

Iz Gürbüz is a Policy Advisor in the Open Innovation Team who has worked across five government departments and agencies, in policy as well as project delivery roles. At the OIT, they’ve worked on topics including education, misinformation and sustainability. They’ve also looked at the use of evidence in policy from an academic perspective, holding an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy, and having worked as a research assistant looking at government use of scientific advice during COVID-19.