What does policy advice look like?
Our founding CEO, Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine reflects on her work as part of the Critical Policy Reference Group of the NHMRC-funded Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) on Health Equity.
What does policy advice look like? That might sound like a silly question, especially from a person who provides it routinely as part of her job. Yet the truth is that policy-making processes are multiple, varied and sometimes hard to identify – let alone hold to account. When I first started working in policy, processes were highly structured and delineated: evidence [informs green + white] paper [leads to] consultation [+/- revisions] [leads to] legislation = reform. Today, this kind of approach is highly dated, if not obsolete. For each policy process that is identifiable and in which there is opportunity to participate, there are just as many that occur behind closed doors. This environment can enable the serendipity of policy-making: right idea solves right problem at right time. But it can also undermine scrutiny of and balanced input into policy-making and the accountability of policy decisions that are ultimately made.
Against that backdrop, it has been fascinating to participate in a structured policy review process as a member of the Critical Policy Reference Group of the NHMRC-funded Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) on Health Equity. This CRE between Flinders and Australian National University looked at how to navigate political and policy processes more effectively in order to operationalise the social determinants of health and health inequity. Over the four years of the CRE, the Critical Policy Reference Group met regularly to review and provide input on the directions of this research; its dissemination to policy audiences; and its implications for future policy.
Now, in a publication from that CRE, we have shared our insights into this policy advice process in an article just published on ‘How do advisory groups contribute to healthy public policy research?’ It struck us that, for all the expectation of policy advice on academic research, there is very little analysis of its value and impact. So we wrote up our reflections, they got published, and now I’d love to hear what you think about them!
