Contributing to a POSTnote as an expert

About POSTnotes

POSTnotes are designed for Members of Parliament but they are also used by many other stakeholders in the wider policy and research community.

To ensure POSTnotes are comprehensive and balanced, we need insights from the expert community. This includes experts from academia, industry, government, the third sector and beyond. Could that be you?

How to contribute to POSTnote

1. Identifying emerging topics

POST’s work programme is internally prioritised by select committees to support their likely scrutiny work and agreed by the POST Board. However, academic researchers can suggest emerging topics that will have future public policy impact as part of POST’s biennial horizon scan, which influences the work programme. See our latest horizon scan to get an idea of what we’re looking for. The processes for the next horizon scan are currently under development, but the opportunity to be involved will be flagged in the UK Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange Unit’s weekly round-up.

2. Contributing to a POSTnote in production

You can view new topics for POSTnotes we are planning to publish in our work programme where you will also find work start dates along with a short scope for each project. If you are a subscriber of the UK Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange Unit’s weekly round-up, you will find relevant ways of contacting authors provided in there, or you can contact the relevant knowledge mobiliser belonging to the Knowledge Exchange Unit network in your institution.

You will need to briefly describe your expertise: include your PhD studies, any grants you’ve been awarded, or any advisory committees you are on, and don’t forget to add any conflict of interest you might have. If you like you can suggest some key literature on the topic. It can also be useful to know if you’ve engaged with the UK Parliament before, by submitting evidence to a Committee inquiry, for example. Once POST have considered the relevance of the expertise of possible contributors, a POST fellow assigned to the project may ask to interview you, or for you to externally review a draft of the POSTnote once it is written.

Why contribute to a POSTnote?

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 research into the UK Parliament as part of a trusted, impartial publication.

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

Contributing to a POSTnote may lead to research impact as understood in the context of REF2021.  The REF2021 Panel Criteria and Working Methods include examples of parliamentary impact and how it may be evidenced. Find more information on types of parliamentary impact and ways to evidence this.

If you have any queries about POST or POSTnotes please contact us.