These opportunities and resources have been compiled by UK Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange Unit (KEU) to help you understand how to engage with Parliament as a researcher.

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

Jump to:

Select committees currently accepting written evidence (compiled 12 February 2025)

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.

New calls for evidence:

All other inquiries currently accepting 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 the 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. 

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”

Contribute to an upcoming POSTnote

POSTnotes are short, peer-reviewed evidence briefings on emerging areas of research. They are widely read by Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff, and often inform select committee inquiries. POST is calling for research contributions and information relevant to the upcoming briefings below.

POSTnotes currently accepting contributions:

To share your research to inform an upcoming POSTnote, please email post@parliament.uk.

How to reach out to share your research for an upcoming POSTnote

Researchers can feed into POST research projects by following the instructions on the contributing to POST research as an expert webpage. Researchers need only submit:

  • Their name.
  • A link to their online research/expert profile.
  • A personal statement (maximum 250 words) describing:
    • your relevant skills, experience and knowledge,
    • key issues relevant to the project that you would like to make us aware of.
  • Links to papers, publications, or blogs you have written that are relevant to the project topic, where available. Please link to open access sources if you can.

Please familiarise yourself with this guidance before submitting your contribution to a new POST projects. 

Reminder: contributions can be emailed to post@parliament.uk until the deadlines stated above. 

Why should I engage?
POSTnotes are used by Members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords and UK Parliament staff to navigate complex research. Contributing to a POSTnote is a good way of feeding your expertise into the UK Parliament as part of a trusted, impartial publication.

All contributors are acknowledged when the POSTnote is published. On publication, you and your organisation’s communications team will be notified to publicise the POSTnote and your contribution. Therefore your contribution can help raise your profile and promote your research. 

More information

Did you miss our arts and humanities special?

Last Friday (7 February), our amazing Arts and Humanities Thematic Research Lead, Dr Helen McCabe, sent out a special round-up highlighting opportunities for researchers in arts and humanities disciplines to engage with Parliament. It’s come to our attention that technical issues blocked delivery to some inboxes, so if you didn’t receive the special arts and humanities round-up on Friday, you can catch up here.

If you’re a researcher or knowledge mobiliser working in the arts and humanities, we’d love to hear from you!

Helen would be really grateful for any insights you can share on how you engage with Parliament, and whether you’d find regular, dedicated updates for arts and humanities researchers useful, so please do get in touch by emailing keu@parliament.uk or via the details shared in the special round-up.

Job experience for undergraduate students

The Select Committee Team in the House of Commons is inviting applications from undergraduates to fill two sandwich student posts for the academic year 2025-26.

Successful candidates will work for one, or possibly two, of the House of Commons’ select committees. The role involves working collaboratively as part of a team to support the committee, conducting research and undertaking organisational tasks relating to committee inquiries. This might include preparing policy information, assisting in writing reports, developing your knowledge of certain subjects covered by the committee, speaking to the committee about subjects you have researched and arranging for experts and other interested people to meet with the committee.

Undergraduates can be studying any degree but must be on a recognised four-year sandwich/industrial placement course.

  1. Effective interpersonal skills to work well with a diverse range of people from all backgrounds. 
  2. Good communication skills; both written and oral.
  3. Ability to bring together, understand and analyse evidence.

The closing date for applications is 23:55 on Wednesday 26 February 2025.
Please apply via the House of Commons website here: Select Committee Team Sandwich Student – Committee Researcher – Houses of Parliament

To help prospective candidates understand the role, we are holding two virtual information sessions with our former and current sandwich students who can answer questions and share their experience of working in Select Committee Team. The sessions will take place online via Microsoft Teams on the following dates:

  •    Friday 14 February 15.00-15.45
  •    Monday 24 February 11.30-12.15

To attend one of the information sessions please register here – Select Committee Team Sandwich Student – Information Session

Reminders

There is still time to suggest ideas for topics for the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee to put “under the microscope”. The deadline to submit your ideas is Monday 24 March 2025.

We are still looking for experts to inform the Lords Special Inquiry Committee to scrutinise the Autism Act 2009. Please complete this form to share your details. The committee may use the information you share to access your research and other publications, or to invite researchers to contribute to the committee’s work. The deadline to complete this form is  Friday 21 February 2025.

Apply by Friday 21 February 2025, 23:55 to join POST as a full time Energy Adviser. You can find more information about the role, including information on attending an applicant information session and how to apply here. POST is running a virtual information session about the role on Friday 7th February at 15:00 – 16:00.

If you haven’t already please do introduce yourself to our Thematic Research Leads (TRLs). The links to introduce yourself to the TRLs will close on 28 February:

Seeing Red… it’s all the rage* 

House of Lords questions are a key mechanism for Members of the House of Lords (Peers) to hold the government to account and raise important issues. They are a formal way to seek information, press for action, and scrutinise government policies and actions. Peers can ask different types of questions, including Oral Questions, which are daily questions to government that take place in the chamber from Monday to Thursday at the start of business and last for 40 minutes. Lords Oral Questions can be tabled anywhere between 1 month and 24 hours in advance.

(*For those who weren’t aware, the colour scheme in the House of Lords is red – hence the embarrassing attempt at a double pun in the title of this fact)

So what? 

Researchers can engage with House of Lords Oral Questions in several ways, contributing their expertise to inform the process and potentially influence policy. Firstly, researchers should track Question Time in the House of Lords to identify upcoming questions relevant to their area of expertise. 

  • If a Peer is asking a question on a topic where you already have a briefing or summary of findings, you can proactively share it with them (find contact details here) as well as summarising key research findings, you can highlight policy implications. Lords use supplementary questions to dig deeper on a subject. These supplementary questions aren’t planned in advance; however, you could also make suggestions in your communication. Moreover, you could anticipate potential government responses to oral questions and prepare additional information or arguments that Peers could use in supplementary questions.
  • You can also identify Peers who have asked similar questions in the past or have demonstrated an interest in the relevant policy area (using key word searches in Hansard). You can then share information with them too, so that they are informed to engage in the topic. 

Building relationships with Peers is crucial, and this can be done through direct contact or networking at relevant events.

For effective engagement, you need to aim for being timely, concise, objective, and available to answer any follow-up questions. Do check out one of our briefings on how to write for parliamentary audiences if you’d like more pointers.