About POST research 

POST sources reliable and impartial scientific research evidence for the UK Parliament. We cover areas including biology, health, energy, environment, physical and social sciences. 

One of our key activities is writing timely, impartial and accessible briefings which synthesise research evidence. POST research is designed for Members of Parliament but it is also used by many other stakeholders in the wider policy and research community. 

To ensure POST research is 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 

Identifying emerging topics

Experts can highlight topics that they believe POST should be aware of by emailing post@parliament.uk. We are particularly interested in topics that are relevant to the following issues, as described in our Editorial Policy: 

  • parliamentary business 
  • questions from parliamentarians 
  • new and topical issues 
  • research advances and developments 
  • developments in policy areas 

Please note that POST receives a significant number of emails from experts. We cannot guarantee that a topic suggested will be selected for a future research project. 

Contributing to our research

To ensure our research is comprehensive and balanced, we use insights from academia, industry, government, the third sector and beyond.  

We gather these insights in several ways, from conducting interviews during the production of our research to obtaining expert reviews of our draft reports before publication. 

You can subscribe to our mailing list to be notified of new research projects.  

If you are interested in contributing to one of our Future research projects, you can email us at post@parliament.uk. A short introduction is all that is needed:   

  • introduce yourself and state which project you would like to contribute to   
  • briefly outline your area of expertise, relevant research, skills, experience and knowledge.  

As part of this, you might like to include a link to your up-to-date research/ expert profile, and it can be useful to mention if you have engaged with UK Parliament before. You might also include links to any relevant papers and blogs in the area related to the project topic (link to open access sources if you can). Or, if your research is unpublished, you could note your two main findings (to date) and state if you are happy to discuss these preliminary findings further.   

Whatever you decide to include, we recommend keeping your initial email brief, and no longer than a few paragraphs – if they need more information, the POST adviser will get back in contact with you.   

Please note that POST receives a significant number of offers to contribute to our research. As our briefings are impartial, we engage with stakeholders from a wide range of groups to ensure balance. However, due the volume of offers to contribute expertise POST receives, we regret that we are not able to engage with everyone who expresses an interest in getting involved in our work.  

Opportunities arise regularly and we would encourage you to keep up to date with our work programme to ensure you are aware of, and can offer to contribute to, the briefings with the most relevance to your research. 

Should there be an opportunity to contribute, an adviser will get back in contact with you. Whilst we cannot guarantee that you will be selected to work with us on a briefing, POST values all expressions of interest to share insights and contribute expertise. 

Please see our Editorial Policy – POST (parliament.uk) and Feedback Policy – POST (parliament.uk) for more information. 

Why contribute to our research? 

POST research is used by Members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords and UK Parliament staff in the course of their work. Contributing to one of our projects is a good way of feeding your research and expertise into the UK Parliament as part of a trusted, impartial publication. 

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

For academics, contributing to POST research may lead to research impact as understood in the context of the Research Excellence Framework. Find more information on types of parliamentary impact and ways to evidence this. 

You can also subscribe to the UK Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange Unit’s weekly round-up, for information about wider parliamentary engagement opportunities. 


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

Related posts