Developing approaches to enable research to better support policy-making in Ireland: Lessons from the Dublin City University Policy Lab

This article analyses the establishment of a new university–policy advisory system interface, the Dublin City University (DCU) Policy Lab, and its experience of contributing to the Irish policy advisory system. It situates the experience of the DCU Policy Lab in Irish policy advisory systems, i.e. the departmental policy analysis units, agencies and practices that governments and other actors engage with to inform the development and implementation of policy. It then examines the adoption of a particular pedagogy, challenge-based learning, and the use of a specific research synthesis instrument, the rapid evidence assessment. In conjunction, results from a small number of interviews conducted with a range of civil and public servants, representatives of civil society organisations, and graduates of the MSc in Public Policy programme are presented to understand the respondents’ own assessments of the work undertaken by the DCU Policy Lab. The paper highlights the issues that arise when working to bring university-initiated research closer to public policy-making and highlights the benefits of such efforts and the lessons learned by those working in the policy arena, i.e. government departments and local authorities, and those postgraduate students from DCU undertaking the challenges, the majority of whom, to date are, have been serving civil and public servants, to date.