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 7 January 2026)

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 invite 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 

Support resources: find guidance on submitting evidence to select committees on the KEU’s ‘how to guides’ page  

Apply Now: Specialist Adviser Roles with the Culture, Media & Sport Committee

The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee is seeking up to two specialist advisers to provide advice and support during the BBC Charter Review period. Duties may include:

  • advising the Committee, orally and in writing, on key issues and policy developments in the BBC and public service media;
  • suggesting and helping to secure authoritative contributions to the work of the Committee;
  • assisting Committee staff with analysing evidence and drafting written briefings;
  • attending Committee meetings where appropriate.

The advisers will support the committee approximately four days per month for a 12 month period (with the potential for extension). The role is hybrid and applicants should be available to travel to Westminster for meetings, usually on a Tuesday morning at least once a month. A daily fee is paid to advisers based on experience and knowledge, plus reasonable travel expenses (further information available on application).
Applicants should demonstrate:

  • Significant professional experience in, or knowledge of, the BBC and public service media landscape.
  • Strong understanding of the public policy issues facing the BBC, with ability to provide objective, evidence-based analysis;
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills, with experience advising and influencing at a senior level in an impartial manner; and
  •  Ability to attend meetings in London as required, and to work both independently and collaboratively to tight deadlines and at short notice.

Previous specialist advisers to the Committee have come from industry, academia and policy roles. The Committee values diversity and encourages applications from people from a wide range of backgrounds. For more information or to discuss the role contact commonscms@parliament.uk.

Apply
To apply send a CV (two pages max.) and a short covering letter (750 words max.) outlining:

  • How you meet the eligibility criteria;
  • Previous examples of your work in a policy context and your understanding of the work of select committees;
  • The amount of time you can commit to the inquiry and your ability to take on work at short notice if required; and
  • A declaration of relevant interests (anything a reasonable person might consider could influence the advice you give the Committee, such as a financial interest or active membership of a relevant campaign group or political party. If appointed, your declared interests will be published on the Committee’s website.)

Send your CV and letter to: commonscms@parliament.uk by 23:59 on Sunday 18 January.

Why should I engage? 
Being a Special Adviser provides a great opportunity to work closely with a committee, informing its work and approach to an inquiry – such as inquiry focus, selection of oral witnesses, and report development and conclusions.  

What should I expect? All applications will be read and taken into consideration, but please note you may not receive a direct response from us. If you do not hear from the Committee at all, then please assume your application has not been successful on this occasion. 

More information: Watch a short video with researchers who’ve been Specialist Advisers talking about their experience  

POSTnotes: Share your research

Two POSTnotes are open for research contributions—share your work for consideration on the below topics:
Pregnancy and postpartum mental health: This POSTnote will consider the issues affecting mental health during pregnancy and in the first year following birth. It will examine the risk factors and the evidence for effective intervention.

Research and development for UK Defence: The UK’s defence innovation system is undergoing significant change. This POSTnote will consider how defence research in the UK is structured and coordinated, what the barriers to innovation are and how they can be addressed.

All contributions must follow POST’s guidance.

If you’re new to POSTnotes or haven’t contributed your research before read on for some general information explaining POSTnotes and what you can expect. 

POSTnotes: explainer

POST collaborates with stakeholders and researchers from industry, government, academia and specialist research institutions, the third sector and beyond, to help identify important themes and source critical literature to produce POSTnotes. Researchers also help peer-review the final reports. POST releases information about the new POSTnotes and briefings it is working on 3-4 times per year and calls for researchers with expertise in the topics identified to share their research and knowledge to contribute to the new POSTnotes. They welcome hearing from researchers working within all disciplines.

What are POSTnotes?
POSTnotes are comprehensive, trusted, and impartial briefings on new and emerging research areas from across science and the social sciences. They inform parliamentary debate, support decision-making, and help parliamentarians scrutinise government policy. 

Why should I get in involved?
Sharing your expertise to contribute to POST’s work can be a time-efficient way to get your research in front of parliamentarians. To tell us about your work please share your personal details, a brief summary of your expertise and key issues relevant to the briefing topic through the links listed below. 

What happens when I share my research insights?
POST carefully reviews and considers the information you provide. It draws on the research that fits best with the briefing and references this research in the publication. POST sometimes also contacts contributors to obtain further information. It is not possible to discuss individual contributions, not all submissions will be used, nor all researchers contacted. Rest assured POST will reach out to you should they need further information. There is also no need to highly polish the wording when you share your research insights through the form. POST rewords all submissions to fit seamlessly within the published briefing.

All submissions used will be credited in the publication which will be available online with open access on POST’s website: https://post.parliament.uk/. 

For guidance or to find out more about how POST acknowledges contributions browse the webpage: contributing to POST research as an expert

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. 

What should I expect?
All submissions will be read and taken into consideration, but you may not receive a direct response. To stay informed about POST’s work we encourage you to subscribe to receive notifications of publications and new research briefings. 

More information 
Find out more about contributing to a POSTnote as an expert.
For queries about POST or POSTnotes contact POST.

Health and Social Care – Special Adviser Roles – last chance to apply

A quick reminder that the Health and Social Care Committee’s Independent Expert Panel is seeking five voluntary specialist advisers for its next project, transitions from child to adult health and social care services.

The appointees will have professional or academic expertise in the process of service-user transition from child to adult services and be appointed for up to 6 months, beginning in February 2026.

Specialist panel members are recruited at the beginning of each project and work alongside the Chair, Professor Dame Jane Dacre, the Expert Panel secretariat, and the five current core members of the panel.

The Panel will gather evidence on the extent to which current guidelines and quality standards for the transition process between child and adult health and social care services are being met and identify any gaps that exist in this period. The panel undertakes research and analysis, including, but not limited to, reviewing written evidence and published data, to judge the Government’s progress against its own key objectives and commitments, and the sector’s compliance with the relevant guidelines, legislation and guidance.

The committee is looking for candidates who can demonstrate:

  • Significant clinical or professional experience of the transition of health and social care between children and adult services, including a broad understanding of the key issues facing those falling into this group.
  • Ability to provide objective, evidence-based evaluation from appropriately chosen methodologies.
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills.

The Panel is actively looking to recruit individuals with a diverse range of hands-on clinical, professional, policy or academic expertise. It is important that the range of views and experiences of patients and service users can be translated through the successful candidates.

Time commitment
The work is likely to be unevenly distributed over time, but specialist panel members would be expected to be able to work for on average 1-2 hours per week, from February – August 2026.

All meetings will take place online (MS Teams). The advisory positions are voluntary and the committee are not able to remunerate specialist panel members for their time.

Apply!
Send a brief CV (maximum 3 pages), a covering letter (maximum 500 words), and a declaration of relevant interests to hsccom@parliament.uk by 5pm on Monday 16 January 2026.

The covering letter, should be addressed to the Chair of the Expert Panel (Professor Jane Dacre) and to the Chair of the Committee (Layla Moran MP), and should set out your relevant expertise and indicate how much time you could realistically devote to panel work.

The declaration of interests should include anything that a reasonable person might consider could influence the advice which might be given to the Committee: for example, active membership of a campaign group or relevant financial arrangement. Declared interests from successful applicants will be published.

For the full role specification, further information or to discuss the role, contact the Head of Secretariat for the Independent Expert Panel, Amna Bokhari by email: hsccom@parliament.uk.

Why should I engage? 
Special Adviser roles are a great opportunity to work closely with a committee, informing its work and approach. Working with the committee’s expert panel is a rare opportunity and will allow the appointed advisers to demonstrate impact by contributing to the small panel and shaping the direction and evidence base underlying this government scrutiny mechanism. 

More information 
Find out more about the Health and Social Care Committee’s work.  Read some of the previous panel reports and evaluations: palliative care (2025), patient safety (2024), cancer services (2022) and maternity services (2021)

A New Year’s gift from the KEU team 

Hansard is the Official Report of the debates taking place within both Houses of Parliament. However, publishing what was said in the chamber wasn’t permitted and was punishable until 1771! By the mid-1770s, several newspapers covered the proceedings in Parliament; but taking notes on Commons business wasn’t allowed until 1783.

MPs were also allowed significant freedom to ‘correct’ their speeches before publication. With one newspaper complaining they’d been sent “a composition which is no more the speech uttered by them [the parliamentarian] in the House of Commons than it is a Welsh ballad”. So in 1909 the House of Commons itself took responsibility for producing the ‘Official Report’ bringing in the era of accuracy and independence. 

So what?
Researchers tell us that they struggle to identify which parliamentarians are interested in their research. A great way to tackle this is to spot the parliamentarians who have spoken passionately on your research topic in debate. You can do this by reading through the relevant debates in Hansard. Or, we’ve found that many researchers find the succinct content returned by the search function on www.theyworkforyou.com helpful. The site is run by a UK charity and the debate information is drawn directly from Hansard. 

New year new opportunities! As this is our first round up of 2026 we wanted to welcome and support your policy engagement efforts by helping you tackle a fundamental element of sharing your research: finding the right audience. Check out our new guide to quickly identify parliamentarians actively engaged in your research area.

More information:

Explore our new resource: How to identify parliamentarians with an interest in your research area (located at the bottom of the webpage)