Fixes for government? Assessing the role of the academy in shaping policy through the case of English subnational governance

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Giovannini, A, Murphy, P ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8459-4448, Reardon, L, Riley, R and Diamond, P, 2025. Fixes for government? Assessing the role of the academy in shaping policy through the case of English subnational governance. In: 75th Political Studies Association Annual International Conference 2025, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, 14-16 April 2025.

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Abstract

Recasting the institutions and policy framework of English subnational governance, including devolution of central powers to ‘metro mayors’ and combined authorities, has generated a vast quantity of policy prescription from academia in the early 2020s. In the current context, the new Labour government has emphasised the need to strengthen subnational powers and capacity across policy areas within its agenda – suggesting that there’s a space for inputs from research. Nevertheless, there is limited evidence that academic work has influenced government thinking in this area, before or after the 2024 general election.

Academics are incentivised to pursue critical, conceptual research, which, however, can lead to policy-unfriendly outcomes. Engagement with policy-makers may require producing more practical recommendations, based on scholars’ research outputs and accumulated knowledge, but cognisant of the political and administrative obstacles that policy-makers face. Conversely, policy-makers may struggle – due to endogenous or exogenous constrains – to engage openly with researchers, or may perceive that scholarly work cannot provide accessible lessons for the policy dilemmas they face. This has important practical implications: it might lead to a ‘waste of academic knowledge’, while also contributing to lack of imagination amongst policy makers.

The aim of this roundtable is to assess this puzzle, exploring what academics could do to optimise how subnational governance research ‘lands’ amongst policy-makers, considering both the demand and supply sides of this relationship.

Item Type:	Conference contribution
Alternative Title:	Roundtable at Political Studies Association Conference (Local Politics and Governance Specialist Group) 2025
Creators:	Giovannini, A., Murphy, P., Reardon, L., Riley, R. and Diamond, P.
Date:	15 April 2025
Identifiers:	Number Type 2428142 Other
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	17 Apr 2025 08:14
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2025 08:20
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53424