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 04 February 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  

Behind the scenes at parliament: a researcher’s day

Interested in seeing one of our PhD fellows in action? You can watch this YouTube video by Anthony Chan, where he gives a summary of his work inside the UK Parliament.

Anthony is currently studying for his PhD at the University of Exeter. In his role as a PhD fellow, he co-authored a POSTnote on ‘Management of legacy landfill’, which can be found here.

Why should I engage? This video gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to be a PhD fellow in UK Parliament. You can hear first-hand from a researcher about their experience, and get the inside scoop on how POST’s popular POSTnotes are produced. 

More information: Read more POSTnotes here. Find out more about fellowships here.  

The best seat in the House (and how MPs save it)

Did you know that the House of Commons has a method by which MPs can save their seat? With 650 MPs in the House of Commons and only 427 seats, some spots – such as those it’s easy to catch the Speaker’s eye from – are more popular than others. To reserve a seat for the day’s business, MPs get in early to fill in a prayer card and place it in the brass plaque above the seat they wish to reserve.

In last week’s round-up we explored how media attention can help researchers catch parliament’s eye. But what happens next? After your moment in the spotlight how do you transition the research visibility into sustainable influence and engagement? How do you get a seat at the table? 

Here are our four top tips: 

Visibility: Use your moment in the spotlight to ensure parliamentarians and parliamentary staff with a special interest in your research area know you are a credible expert. You could send a short media clip to accompany a policy brief and recommendations to key parliamentarians.  

Insight: Align your offer and parliament’s needs. What might the parliamentarian or team need from you? Is it a technical area that you might help them navigate? Are you a cross-disciplinary expert that can come at a difficult issue from multiple angles? Does your research provide an evidence-based solution to the problem the media presented? Can you be available at short notice to offer insight or advice? Are you an expert in a focal area or able to provide a broad synthesis related to the media topic?  

Timing: use the media spotlight to frame your research as timely and important to the current national debate. Reach out to parliamentary teams who might want to draw on your expertise and advice in the moment. This includes select committees who conduct scrutiny in the topic area, the House of Commons Library specialists who answer MPs questions on any topic, and APPGs. 

Partnership: The pace of parliamentary business is fast. Your topic may not stay in the spotlight for long. Partnering with non-academic organisations can be an excellent way to influence and remain part of the longer-term debate once the media attention is elsewhere. Consider if there are think tanks, NGOs or advocacy groups that align with your research findings that already have an established relationship with parliament. Also, collaborating with other organisations to form interdisciplinary, cross-organisational partnerships can provide a broad, comprehensive offer that is more compelling for parliamentarians. Finally, if your work was cocreated with community groups they may also champion your research and influence their local MP towards action.  

More information