British Academy: Policy-Focused Research Projects (UK)

Deadline: 1-Feb-23

The British Academy is inviting proposals for policy-focused research projects which will provide evidence and case studies that enable policy lessons and insight to be drawn out in two areas linked to the policy programmes: Technology and inequality; and Environmental sustainability and place.

In this scheme, they are seeking case studies that draw from scholarship and evidence from the humanities, social sciences, and the arts (the SHAPE subjects) to highlight clear and practical lessons for policymakers at the central, regional and/or local level in relation to the two policy areas of technology and inequality and environmental sustainability and place. They welcome and actively encourage interdisciplinary approaches to case study analysis.

In this call they are inviting proposals to support programmes of work within two of these themes: digital society and sustainability for people and planet. Their programme of work on technology and inequality will help to improve their understanding of how to ensure technologies deliver public good and help to reduce inequalities, not exacerbate them. Their programme of work on environmental sustainability and place explores environmental sustainability through the lens of place and place-sensitive policy. Projects funded under this scheme will help provide critical evidence of how evidence-based interventions are contributing to improved policy development across each of these areas.

Scope of the Call

• Projects should specify which of the two policy areas their case study work will address:
  • Technology and Inequality, or
  • Environmental Sustainability and Place.
• They expect most proposals to engage with only one of these areas. However, where projects will provide policy insight into both areas, applicants should clearly explain how they will do so in their proposal.
• They suggest that in either of the two policy areas, policy insights should be considered along one or more of the following dimensions: place (physical and social context, locality), scale (individual, community, regional, national) and time (past, present, future; short, medium, and long term). The British Academy previously used these dimensions within its report Shaping the COVID Decade:
  • Place (locality, physical and social context) is an essential part of grounding the policy response, harnessing crucial knowledge from citizens, communities and cultures, to improve the sensitivity of decision-making to the distinct challenges and opportunities for different places.
  • Scale (individual, community, regional, national, global) features in their analysis of the complex interconnections between the levels of decisionmaking – from individual choices and behaviours right up to international and global relations – and the relations of power and influence within and between them and what this means for UK policy making.
  • Time (past, present, future; short-, medium-, long-term) is embedded in their commentary on how they acknowledge and learn from history, and how they consider over what timescale different interventions should be made and how the future may be different from the past.
• Projects should apply the cross-cutting dimensions suggested above to draw out practical insights from their research findings and case studies. Projects should explain and justify to what extent insights can be generalised to other UK policy contexts, and where possible synthesise insights within a coherent framework to support future evidence-based policy development.
• Technology and Inequality
  • They recently completed a project on digital poverty in the UK and are now working on a project on technology and inequality. This project was prompted by a request from the Government Office for Science for the British Academy to conduct an independent project on the topic of technology and inequality. This project aims to improve their understanding of how government can play a key role in supporting access to, uptake of, and investment in digital technologies that can be critical to delivering broad public objectives, in a way that ensure inequalities do not become entrenched.
  • The first stage of work undertaken in this project focused on the relationship between digital technology and inequality and examined how advances in digital technology can mitigate or exacerbate existing inequalities, as well as how existing inequalities pose challenges for access and skills related to digital technology.
  • With this call, the Academy is now seeking to build on and address some of the gaps in the evidence base by commissioning a series of projects that can provide practical and policy-focused insights from the SHAPE disciplines to help policymakers better understand how technology can be used to address inequality and identify and develop the right incentives and approaches to deliver successful outcomes and avoid unintended consequences. They are therefore calling for work relevant to at least one of the three points outlined below, in turn.
  • They are interested in case studies that can provide insights into the ways in which government can support access to, uptake of, and investment in technologies to deliver public objectives, in ways that alleviate rather than exacerbate or entrench inequalities. This could include examples from a range of sectors (e.g. the energy, health, transport, community sector), or studies that provide insight into specific policy challenges that society may face in the future, such as the transition involved in the upcoming public switched telephone network (PSTN) switch off. They welcome submissions from those working on topics such as, but not limited to:
    • Artificial intelligence (AI), data mining technologies and predictive analytics, including distributed ledger technologies
    • Smart cities and networked systems
    • Clean energy technologies
    • New innovations in transport and mobility
    • Biotechnology, bioinformatics, and genetic technologies
  • Secondly, they are interested in examples of how governments and policymakers at different scales have either (a) tackled digital inequality or (b) used digital means (such as data science tools or AI) to tackle inequality. They welcome international examples of interventions as well as national or regional ones, and comparative studies that can provide practical insights for UK policymakers. The case study examples need not be limited to government initiatives, and they welcome evidence and lessons from relevant initiatives outside of government, particularly regarding where, how and to what extent these might be scaled up or transposed into public sector contexts. Topics of interest might include, but are not limited to:
    • Interventions that guarantee universal access to broadband (or that conceive of broadband or the internet as a utility or right)
    • Efforts to providing citizens with digital devices to access local services such as education or healthcare (e.g. wearable devices);
    • Digital literacy campaigns;
    • The use of data science technologies and AI in modelling for public policy;
    • The use of data science technologies and AI to tackle inequality in relation to specific objectives and in targeting resources more fairly or equitably, for example in key markets such as housing;
    • The adoption and application of systematic performance measures for digital inequality (including analysis of the costs of not addressing exclusion).
  • Thirdly, they welcome case studies that provide insight into how government can deal with instances in which the impacts of technology upon inequality are subject to considerable uncertainty – for example, in cases related to automation and predictive analytics. What role can government (at national, regional, local scales) play to mitigate and address inequalities in these instances?
  • In all cases, projects should ensure they pull together a clear and concise set of insights and recommendations relevant for UK policymakers from across their findings. The extent to which insights are relevant and generalisable to the UK policy context should be clearly articulated in project outputs.
• Environmental Sustainability and Place
  • The British Academy’s policy programme Where they live next seeks to explore environmental sustainability through the lens of place and place-sensitive policy. It seeks to examine how visible different places, and the people and cultures within them, are to decision makers when they make decisions about the environment and how policy making in this area could be strengthened. The programme builds on the evidence from the Academy’s previous programme of work Where they live now, which explored what places mean to people and why, and what place-sensitive policy making might look like.
  • Environmental sustainability is sometimes seen as a challenge that can solely be addressed by science and technology. However, history would indicate that social and technical systems co-evolve in practice, as their recent report Lessons from the history of UK environmental policy has examined. Whether this involves transitioning communities to more sustainable practices or adopting net-zero technologies, policy makers need to consider the behavioural and cultural shifts that are needed to be able to achieve these transitions in the places people live but also at the scale and pace needed to meet their environmental and carbon goals.
  • The evidence collected so far for the Where they live next policy programme has highlighted some key findings:
    • The need for an inclusive and pluralistic approach to environmental policy that reflects the needs and priorities of different people, communities, places and environments across the UK. Language, culture and values are important factors in this, for instance by using local language that resonates more with people and their own lived experiences and developing more positive narratives for change.
    • The value of education and local knowledge: tapping into and harnessing local environmental (and social) knowledge for effective place-sensitive policy making and building on this knowledge by educating people not only on environmental issues, but also on policy making itself in order for people to fully comprehend how decisions are made and how they can shape policy and enact change in the places they live.
    • The importance of developing a variety of creative models of engagement and strategic engagement processes which can tackle the full range of environmental challenges and reflect the broader requirements of particular places and communities.
    • The need to consider the significance of a coherent multi-level, place-sensitive governance system in order for these facets of place-sensitive policy making to become established and embedded within places; one which includes the delegation of powers and responsibilities to local actors.
  • Along with these findings there are also identified gaps and further areas of interest that their evidence base did not address which include:
    • How to understand the various interactions between layers of governance, most importantly, how to better align local, national and international governance on environmental issues in practice.
    • What a place-sensitive approach to environmental policy means for central actors, particularly in terms of roles, responsibilities and the delegation of powers and resources (with greater clarity around what still needs to be done centrally and what can be decentralised).
    • The steps required to effectively scale up different local initiatives so that these approaches can be used in other places, and the cost-benefit ratio of doing so.
  • With this call, the Academy is now seeking to build on and address some of the gaps in the evidence base by commissioning a series of case studies which can provide practical and policy-focused insights from the SHAPE disciplines to help policymakers understand the mechanisms for place-sensitive decision-making on environmental issues, and the right incentives and approaches to be developed to deliver successful outcomes and avoid unintended consequences.
  • They are interested in case studies which can capture practical examples of how different levels of governance have worked together successfully, including how communities and local actors have responded to policy issues and have scaled-up these responses across different dimensions of environmental sustainability. Case studies can focus on one or more of the areas below, including examining the interactions between them:
    • Climate change: Transport, heating, cooling, energy efficiency, flood management, etc.
    • Nature: Biodiversity, habitats, rivers and seas, land use, etc.
    • Pollution and resource use: Wider emissions besides carbon, plastics, waste, etc.
    • The built environment: Housing, civic and green spaces, infrastructure, planning, etc.
  • In all cases, projects should ensure they pull together a clear and concise set of insights and recommendations relevant for UK policymakers from across their findings. The extent to which insights are relevant and generalisable to the UK policy context should be clearly articulated in project outputs.

Duration and Value of Awards

• They expect to make six to eight awards of up to £25,000 each (up to four in each of the policy areas).
• Awards will start in March 2023 for a duration of six months. Funding can be used to support research assistance; travel, fieldwork and related expenses; and networking costs. Projects must begin in March 2023.
• The call for awards will close on the 1st of February 2023, and the timetable for deliverables will be agreed upon by successful applicants and The British Academy.
• Funding may be used to support:
  • travel, fieldwork and related expenses
  • networking costs
  • research assistance
• The following items are not currently eligible for funding:
  • the time of the PI and Co-Applicants
  • institution costs in hosting and supporting the project
  • purchasing of assets
  • computer hardware including laptops, electronic notebooks, digital cameras, etc.
  • books and other permanent resources
  • the preparation of camera-ready copy, copy-editing, proof-reading, indexing, nor any other editorial task
  • subventions for direct production costs (printing, binding, distribution, marketing etc.)
  • costs of publication in electronic media
  • travel and maintenance expenses for purposes such as lecture tours or to write up the results of research
• All grants will be paid to the employing institution of the PI, and not to the individual researchers involved. Institutions must be officially recognised by the British Academy prior to the proposal being submitted.

Outputs and Impact

• A key focus of the award will be creating the connection to pull high quality research insight into the policymaking sphere in collaboration with the Academy.
• All proposals must include detailed plans for the appropriate communication and dissemination of their findings. This should include how applicants will engage with policymakers, practitioners and other target audiences. Applicants will be expected to engage with their target audience from the outset and also to show how the research, once completed, will be disseminated to, and taken up by, policymakers and other stakeholders.
• They expect as a minimum a report or briefing that sets out the key case study findings, specifying policy and practical insights/lessons for government in the UK – at the national, regional and/or local level – and other relevant policy stakeholders. The report or briefing should be concise and be written for a policy audience. The insights in this report/briefing should be justified with evidence from an appropriate case study/studies, and its relevance to the UK should be clearly articulated. Reports and briefings should also be clear about the limitations of their case studies, identifying where lessons may be context specific or dependent on a range of factors.
• The policy-focused report/briefing should be supplemented (e.g., in an accompanying annex) with an account of the work undertaken, the approach and justification (including how cases were selected or identified), method, results and analysis – including images and data visualisations as needed (these may be included in the briefings where appropriate, so long as they are of high resolution). All outputs must be suitable for publication on the British Academy’s website after peer review.
• They are open to a range of additional outputs across the duration of the project (for example, in the form of infographics, interactive datasets or webpages, audio or video content). Whatever form they take, outputs should translate the findings of the work into meaningful insights or recommendations for policy. They expect projects to consider relevant policy challenges, audiences, and approaches when developing outputs.
• The commissioned team will work closely with staff at the British Academy throughout the project and will provide at least one interim output as well as regular oral updates. They expect all teams to provide a dedicated person(s) who will liaise regularly with a British Academy team member, and who can provide the British Academy team with updates related to the project, to feed into the ongoing work of the British Academy.

Research Methodology

• Projects are free to select the methodological approaches that are both appropriate for their case study but should clearly justify their choice of methodology in relation to their chosen research question. They especially welcome comparative case study approaches, and methodologies that combine qualitative and quantitative research methods. Applications should clearly justify their research design, including choice of case study/studies, as well as clarifying their approach to data collection and analysis.
• Successful projects will be likely to employ methods which lead to clear, succinct syntheses and analysis, and include a diverse collaborative group of researchers across multiple disciplines and backgrounds. All projects should emphasise the policy relevance of their research, for example by considering specific policy audiences that they can engage with, how their evidence can enhance understandings of policy challenges in this area, and how their case studies can inform tangible, evidence- based policy solutions that could have a positive impact on society.
• In all cases, it is for the applicants to demonstrate the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of their proposed approach.
• The onus is on applicants to convince the Academy that the focus of their projects fully addresses the aims of this call.
• They expect applications are likely to build on existing or ongoing research and/or provide new syntheses of existing or ongoing research findings.
• The Academy encourages proposals from multidisciplinary teams drawing on multiple insights and disciplinary framings. Applicants are encouraged to bring together different communities of expertise, for example, academic, professional, business, lay or community contexts.
• The research should use the evidence base to develop and articulate insights for the policy area. The Academy may look to utilise this insight in real-time, convening and supporting the awards to disseminate and share their outputs as the work develops.
• Awards will be required to work closely and regularly with the Academy. These will include regular catch-up meetings with the provision of updates on progress made.
• The remit of the programme does not include primarily practice-based outputs such as musical composition and performance, visual practice, creative writing and film- making. These areas of research will be considered to fall within the Academy’s remit only when they form part of an integrated project of demonstrable critical or historical significance.

Research Ethics

• Applicants must ensure the proposed research will be carried out to a high ethical standard. They must confirm that any potential ethical issues have been considered and explain how these will be addressed. They require the research they support to be conducted in an ethical manner, including with regard to safeguarding.
• The UK host institution is responsible for ensuring that ethical issues relating to the research project are identified and brought to the attention of the relevant approval or regulatory body.
• Ethical approval to undertake the research must be granted by the relevant authority before any work requiring approval begins. Wherever necessary, appropriate consent should be obtained from or on behalf of participants or others affected by the research.
• Applicants will be asked to indicate whether their proposed research raises any special ethical issues, and whether their application has been approved by the host institution’s Research Ethics Committee or other relevant authority.

Eligibility Criteria

• Each project will be led by a named PI. The PI must be a researcher in a discipline within the social sciences or the humanities. They can be based at an eligible UK university or research institute, or an independent researcher. The PI is expected to direct the research and the management of the project and has responsibility for the overall project reporting requirements.
• The PI must be of postdoctoral or above status (or have equivalent research experience).
• PIs may not hold more than one British Academy award of a comparable nature at any one time.
• An individual cannot be the PI on more than one bid under this call.
• Duplicate applications for the same purpose to more than one British Academy funding programme will not be accepted.
• Projects can involve Co-Applicants and other participants.
• Co-Applicants may be expected to be in a position to take over the leadership of the project in the event that the PI is unable to continue in the role for any reason.
• The PI must be based in the UK and a Co-Applicant can be based elsewhere.
• No individual may be a Co-Applicant on more than two projects under this call (nor may a PI be additionally a Co-Applicant on more than one other project).
• Projects may also include any number of specified ‘Other Participants’, who may, for example, be relevant stakeholders participating in networking or dissemination events, academic or policy advisers, practitioners, industry representatives, etc.
• Research assistance is an eligible cost under this programme and it can be supported where a reasonable case is made in line with the type of work that is required to be undertaken.

Selection Criteria

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Relevance of the application to the programme aims and scope of this call, including the approach the applicants propose to take in responding to the questions and the range of disciplinary expertise of the team;
• The feasibility of the proposal in terms of appropriate and robust methodology;
• The clarity, relevance and appropriateness of the evidence and outputs to UK policymakers;
• The demonstrated commitment and ability to meet the deliverables and deadlines outlined above;
• Value for money.

For more information, visit British Academy.