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. 

Select committees currently accepting written evidence (compiled 18 June 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 recommendations it makes to the Government. Find out more about why to engage with Parliament here. And find more on engagement for impact here.  

What should I expect? All evidence will be read and taken into consideration, but you may not receive a direct response from us or the Committee. To stay informed, we encourage you to follow the progress on the respective committee / inquiry webpages.

More information: all inquiries currently accepting evidence are found here  
Guidance on submitting evidence to Commons select committees
Guidance on submitting evidence to Lords select committees

Job Opportunity: Senior Researcher (Transport), Business and Transport Section

The House of Commons Library Business and Transport Section is seeking a senior researcher for transport to support their work in providing briefings for MPs and their staff on transport law and policy topics.

The successful candidate will join the Business and Transport Section, which covers transport, pensions, taxation, financial systems and institutions, corporate matters, and employment. The transport portfolio includes rail, local transport (including buses), aviation, roads and road vehicles, taxis, shipping, road safety, active travel and decarbonisation. The post holder will have excellent knowledge and understanding of key areas of UK transport policy and/or legislation, with in depth knowledge of one of the above areas. 

Some of the responsibilities for this role include:

  • Research and briefing work on transport policy topics within the Commons Library, including:
    • Providing accurate, impartial, clear, fit-for-purpose written and oral briefings on legislation and topical issues on relevant subjects, in response to specific enquiries from Members and their staff.   
    • Preparing and publishing new briefing papers as required (e.g., on topical issues, in advance of second reading and report stages of major bills, and on matters of interest to Parliament) and updating them as appropriate. This includes collaborating with colleagues when appropriate and commenting constructively on others’ work.
    • Helping MPs’ staff with constituency casework and the impact of national policy on constituents.   
  • Supporting the broader work of the Business and Transport Section, which may include research work on any of the subjects covered by the team.

There will be a virtual information session on MS Teams for you to find out more about this role and working at Parliament, held on Wednesday 25 June at 16:00 – 17:00. To register to attend, please book via Eventbrite.

More information on the application process can be found in the Application Support Pack, and the role and the full criteria in the Job Description. The salary range for this full time role is £56,180 to £66,497. 

Application deadline: Sunday 29 June 2025, 23:55.

Don’t miss your moment – parliamentary opportunity reminders

There is one SpAd role and three different types of PhD fellowships available this week:

* last chance * Specialist adviser to the House of Lords Finance Bill Sub-Committee: Support scrutiny of the draft Finance Bill by reviewing its clauses, drafting the call for evidence, attending sub-committee meetings to assist deliberations, drafting reports, and advising on expert contacts that may support the sub-committee’s work through this prestigious fractional remunerated role. Read the full details of the specialist adviser role. For more information, email financebill@parliament.uk. 

  • To apply, send a CV and short covering letter setting out your suitability for the post to the Finance Bill Sub-Committee by Wednesday 25 June 2025, 12:00. Interviews will likely be held in the week commencing 7 July. 

Engineering Fellowship: The Ashok Kumar fellowship offers engineering masters or doctoral students (or recent completers) the opportunity to apply for a funded fellowship in POST preparing briefing materials for parliamentarians on emerging science topics.

Parliamentary fellowship (chemistry): A funded (3 month*) fellowship is open to Royal Society of Chemistry members** who are undertaking or have recently finished their PhD study. The successful applicant will be based in the UK Parliament, supporting its use of research evidence by preparing briefing material for parliamentarians on emerging science topics.
*The fellowship can be carried out full-time for 13 weeks or part-time over a longer period. The start date will fall within the period between January 2026 and October 2026.
** Potential applicants who are not already a member of the RSC can apply to join prior to submitting their fellowship application.

UKRI policy internships: Funded placements are available to current or recent PhD students to intern at UK Parliament within POST, a select committee, or the House of Commons or House of Lords Libraries. An online information session will be held on Thursday 3 July for prospective applicants. Email post@parliament.uk to book to attend the information session.

These internships are part of the wider UKRI scheme: view the full range of hosts for the Policy Internships scheme – it includes parliamentary teams, government departments and non-governmental bodies, learned societies and other organisations. Look through the detailed information about all the UKRI Policy Internships. Or access more information on the internships based in POST. Information on the funding arrangements is in the applicant guidance (Annex A).

Beyond the Benches: Sharing research across the political spectrum 

Parliamentarians are seated in the chambers according to their political parties. In the House of Lords, the government sits to the right-hand side of the throne in the chamber. In the House of Commons, the government sits to the right of the Speaker, and the front benches of both government and opposition are generally reserved for ministers or shadow ministers. Those parliamentarians who do not have roles in the government or shadow government are sometimes known as ‘backbenchers’ – because that’s where they sit! 

So what? 

Researchers tend to focus their contact efforts primarily on the government and ministers, often not reaching out to their shadow counterparts or backbenchers of either party because they’re unaware of their influence. This is a missed opportunity. Unlike government ministers, the shadow government does not have the same resource and support as the government, which is supported by the civil service, so may be particularly receptive to input from academics. As for backbenchers, unlike government ministers, whose work focuses on a specific policy portfolio, backbenchers get involved in a wider range of policy, scrutiny, legislation and debate activities. They participate in APPGs and select committees, they propose amendments to legislation and introduce private members bills, and can table topics for debate. They have a broad range of evidence needs and can follow their interests and passion projects.   

If your goal is to influence policy, don’t just focus on one party or those holding the top jobs. Real impact happens when research evidence reaches a wider range of ears. No matter which House they sit within or political party they align with, parliamentarians value research evidence to help them make decisions for the good of the country.  

More information: