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Target Audience: Research staff and anyone else involved with research. The event would also be of use to colleagues with a focus on impact and engagement, the civic university, or the relationship between research and place.

It would be easy to assume that the world of policymaking only extends to parliament and central government. However, much of the policy that most affects people’s day-to-day lives is determined in town and city halls across the country. Researchers often believe that the best routes into policy are those running through the national institutions; however, working with local government offers opportunities to connect with key delivery organisations and shape policy and practice as it is implemented on the ground.

This event will feature a presentation on working with policy at a local level, given by Nick Bibby FRSA FAcSS, which will be followed by a conversation between Nick and Paul Godzik. Finally there will be an opportunity for questions to both speakers.
Nick Bibby is one of Scotland’s leading authorities of communicating research and, in particular, communicating it to a policy audience. With a background in political journalism and higher education communications, he first worked in academic-policy engagement at the University of Edinburgh, before founding the Scottish Policy & Research Exchange. More recently, he established his own consultancy, Research and Impact Ltd, which works with academics across and beyond the UK to help them connect their work to policy audiences.
Paul Godzik is a public affairs & strategic communications consultant based in Edinburgh. He has worked in both the UK and Scottish parliaments and was a councillor in Edinburgh for ten years, including four years as Convenor of the Education, Children and Families Committee.

Key questions to be addressed are:

• How can academics best connect with local government and how are councils structured?
• What are the main routes into working with councillors and what are their areas of responsibility?
• How can working with councils be part of connecting with a local community more generally?

Course Outcomes/Objectives;

• Attendees will gain an appreciation of the workings of local government in Scotland.
• Attendees will gain an appreciation of the multiple ways in which local authorities connect with an understanding of the different roles and responsibilities of elected and unelected officers.
• Attendees will have an appreciation of the significance of place in addressing work to local authorities and the importance of understanding the needs of a particular community before engaging.
• Attendees will gain an appreciation of the opportunities to impact available at a local level.

Accessibility 

We are committed to ensuring our events and courses are accessible to all staff:

For online activity:

• The session will take place on Zoom
• Auto-captions will be enabled
• There will be an opportunity for attendees to ask questions but no activities requiring compulsory audience participation
• You can keep your camera off
• You can drop into the session
• The session is relaxed – this means you can stretch, move around, stim etc.
• Digital copies of resources will be emailed to participants in advance upon request.

Please contact osdu-equity@strath.ac.uk to discuss any further access requirements

This is a one-off event, there is no wait list.

Useful links;

www.researchandimpact.com

https://bsky.app/profile/researchandimpact.bsky.social

Prerequisites

Cancellation Policy

When applying for a course, you should note that there will be a £50* charge to your Department / School if you do not attend your place on the course. There will be no charge as long as you cancel your booked place before the event or notify our staff at osdu@strath.ac.uk that you can no longer attend.

A Department / School is welcome to send someone else in your place if they wish without incurring a charge, providing that person has the necessary prerequisites for the course. In the case of courses split over more than one day, you are expected to attend ALL parts of the course.

*This is the standard charge for cancellation or non-attendance of a course of 1-day duration or less. For some courses, there may be a higher cancellation charge and if this is the case you will be advised of this at the time of booking.