Why participate in UCL's Knowledge Broker Academy?

Participation in UCL's Knowledge Broker Academy (KBA) offers a range of benefits for both the individual staff members and the UCL faculty.

The Knowledge Broker Academy Offer

Policy centres can help meet the demand for evidence from policymakers and harness the full impact of the research base. As one such centre which has been in existence for over ten years, UCL Public Policy has accumulated a wealth of evidence to demonstrate how developing mechanisms and pathways for academic-policy engagement can enhance the impact of UCL’s world-class research.

The KBA uniquely combines self-paced skills development alongside opportunities to apply new learning with policy professionals. The KBA curriculum is dynamic and reflexive, including elements of peer learning and continuous reflection to enable participants to tailor their learning experiences and develop their skills in a supportive environment.

Benefits for the participant

The KBA programme foregrounds key enablers for effective academic-policy engagement. It includes:

Resources which can expand and deepen participants’ contextual knowledge.
A flexible curriculum through which participants define their personal objectives and can tailor engagement to meet their learning gaps.
An action-learning approach through which participants can apply their learning – an evidenced feature of effective academic-policy engagement.
Peer-to-peer learning allows participants to build relational networks.
Exposure to policy professionals through which to enhance the impact of participants’ expertise.
Developmental opportunities in areas of promotional value such as external engagement, institutional citizenship, leadership, impactful knowledge exchange, and cross-disciplinary network building.
Tangible outputs to support professional development: a narrative CV and a testimony letter from UCL Public Policy.
The opportunity to explore ethical leadership through different approaches to policy engagement.

Benefits for the faculty

Through targeted activities and a strong support network, KBA participants gain confidence and knowledge in key areas necessary to be effective knowledge brokers.

By nominating a KBA participant, your faculty will gain a staff member:

Who will better understand the policymaking process and the role the UCL community can play in supporting evidence-informed decision-making? 
Can develop skills and resources that will help them to translate research and/or practitioner expertise into broader contexts, and engage with policy actors, networks and organisations.
Develop the basis of a policy intervention (such as, but not limited to a report, presentation, policy brief, slide deck, Select Committee submission, or policy fellowship).
Be able to share ways of engaging with policy with others in the UCL community.

Feedback from the KBA pilot programme cohort

Our cohort for the pilot programme entered the programme with various goals related to career and leadership development, network-building, gaining new skills and knowledge, fostering diversity in policy engagement, and empowering other colleagues.

Participants' feedback emphasised the significance of personal engagement and collaborative learning.
All participants rated their 1:1 meetings with UCL Public Policy team members as very important to their experience of the KBA.
All participants rated the facilitation of peer learning sessions as important to their experience of KBA.

"The KBA has encouraged me to better understand policy engagement and impact in my own department at UCL"

"The KBA has made me more confident about the policy impact I have had."

"The KBA has changed how I approach my teaching."

"The most valuable aspect of the KBA was to have space to share and discuss some of the challenges of this work and not to feel so alone.

This is important in raising confidence, recognising the value of this is often hidden invisible labour and confronting the necessary pitfalls that come along the way.

I don't think there are the structures, spaces and resources for this in general academic life within departments and research teams, so thank you to all involved for the incredible support. "

Participate in the 2025 KBA programme

To express your interest, please complete the form below by 22 January 2025. Please also be sure to read more about eligibility, time commitment, and key information on our 'About UCL's Knowledge Broker Academy' page.

Apply online →