Engineering advice for policy: The National Engineering Policy Centre

Title: Engineering advice for policy: The National Engineering Policy Centre

Speaker: Dr Nick Starkey, Director of Policy, Royal Academy of Engineering

Chair: Flo Greatrix, Policy Impact Unit

Established in 2018, the National Engineering Policy Centre is a partnership led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, between 43 different UK engineering organisations representing 450,000 engineers. The Centre connects policy makers with critical engineering expertise to inform and respond to policy issues of national importance, giving policymakers a route to advice from across the whole profession, and the profession a unified voice on shared challenges. 

About the series

The world of policy making can be a ‘black box’ for many. Who are policy makers and how do they actually ‘make’ policy? How are experts selected for advisory committees? These questions, among others, can make engaging with policy seem like an impossible task to start.

The Policy Impact Unit is running a series of lunch and learn seminars over the year to give UCL Engineering researchers the opportunity to hear first-hand from policy professionals working in range of policy roles, including in Government, Parliament, Local Government, Expert Institutions and campaigning and lobbying.

During the seminars, attendees will to hear what it is like to work in a policy role, to learn more about how research evidence is used in policymaking and to hear how researchers can get involved.  The seminars will be a great opportunity for anyone who is interested in sharing their research with policymakers to learn more about how policy is made and how academics can feed in to the process.