These opportunities have been compiled by UK Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange Unit (KEU).

Take a look at the KEU’s webhub of information and resources for researchers. 

These opportunities and resources have been sent to members of the KEU’s informal network for knowledge mobilisers, for circulation to the research community (find out more about the network).

Jump to:

Select committee inquiries launched in the last week (since 23 November 2023)

Please click the title of any inquiry listed below to be taken to a summary of that inquiry and the full call for evidence.

Remember that you don’t have to answer every question posed in each call for evidence. And you can also explore all select committee inquiries currently open for submissions of written evidence.

Select committee inquiries launched in the last fortnight (since 15 November 2023)

Please click the title of any inquiry listed below to be taken to a summary of that inquiry and the full call for evidence.

Remember that you don’t have to answer every question posed in each call for evidence. And you can also explore all select committee inquiries currently open for submissions of written evidence.

Why should I engage? Submitting evidence to a select committee can lead to further engagement, such as an invitation to give oral evidence. Your submission will be published on the Committee webpage. Your insights may inform the Committee’s conclusions or recommendations it makes to the Government. Find out more about why to engage with Parliament. You can also read more on engagement for impact.

More information: Explore all select committee inquiries currently open for submissions of written evidence. 

Support resources: Find guidance on submitting evidence to select committees on the KEU’s ‘how to guides’ page. Watch our 30 minute online training session “How to work with select committees”.

Here’s four ideas to help you save time planning your teaching modules….

It’s a slow news week in the KEU, so we’re taking the opportunity to share a few timeless ideas that might help save a bit of time for those of you who teach in universities…

Have you ever read one of POST’s POSTnotes? If not, they are well worth a read; they are short evidence briefings, which provide an amazing overview on a topic, usually drawing on well over 100 sources. They are the perfect way to learn a lot about something you know nothing about, in not much time.

Here are four ways you could use POSTnotes in your teaching (which we know some lecturers already do very successfully):

1) you could use them to inform your teaching
2) you could include them in a reading list, or set them as a specific reading task for your students
3) you could get your students to reverse engineer a POSTnote, to understand how information is put together for policy audiences
4) you could get your students to write a POSTnote on a topic, as one of their pieces of assessed work

If you end up doing any of these, do let us know – we always love hearing about the different ways people use POST’s briefings 

Why should I engage? There’s no obligation for you to do any of the above! We just know how incredibly busy you are, so if we can do anything to help you save even a small amount of time, then we will always try to do that!

More information: See POST’s POSTnotes here

Job op! Apply to be a Senior Education and Engagement Outreach Officer (Wales)

Fancy a new job in Wales? UK Parliament is currently recruiting for a Senior Education and Engagement Officer in Wales. 

In this role, you’d deliver inspiring and informative sessions to a range of community and school audiences in a national award-winning team You’d promote the work of UK Parliament in communities and schools across Wales. The community work will focus particularly on those who have had little or no engagement with the work of UK Parliament before.   

Some of the responsibilities for this role include:

  • Delivering the in-school workshop programme for students aged 7 – 18 within Wales, using appropriate material and resources.
  • Developing and managing ongoing relationships with external partners in order to create opportunities for community outreach sessions with audiences who are less likely to engage politically 
  • Partaking in CPD, training and team meetings with colleagues, to ensure up to date knowledge and understanding of UK Parliament 
  • Contributing to the development of education resources, to support an expanding education outreach programme with appropriate emphasis on their place in the national curriculum

Why should I apply? This is an exciting opportunity to conduct a varied role, working with lots of different stakeholders. It’s a role that requires the kind of skills you are likely to have, given your background in research and / or knowledge mobilisation; however, you’d be applying them in a new context. It’s also an exciting opportunity to join the organisation of UK Parliament, whilst working mainly in Wales.   

More information:  You can apply for the role here. Don’t miss the deadline of Sunday 3 December 2023 at 23:55. 

But what does it mean?

Ever feel like there’s quite a lot about Parliament that you don’t understand? Us too, and we work here! We quite often get queries from academics asking for help in understanding an aspect of Parliament, and we’ll always do our best to solve them. If we don’t know the answer, sometimes we go to colleagues to find out more, but other times we don’t need to, as there are a number of great resources that provide accessible explainers. These include Parliament’s Glossary, the MPs’ Guide to Procedure , and Erskine May – known as ‘the bible of parliamentary procedure’! 

So what?
It’s hard to influence something you don’t understand! Conversely, the more you know about something, the easier it is to engage with it and influence it.

We do our best to give you bitesize explainers in every round up, however, you can also advance your understanding without our help, using these great resources. 

More information