Translating Lived Experience to Policy

Researchers are increasingly looking to bring ‘lived experience’ - knowledge from people with first-hand experience of a social issue or issues - into their analysis of how policy can solve socio-economic problems.

There is growing acknowledgment of the unique perspectives lived experience can provide, and the importance of including lived experience evidence to build trust between policy-makers and the groups their decisions will affect. Yet doing lived experience research meaningfully requires significant resource, and translating experiences into policy isn't always straightforward.

As part of our Innovations in Evidence series, this discussion will focus specifically on the process of translating qualitative research and lived experience evidence into policy-making, and the process of influencing decision-makers with this kind of evidence.

How much do we know and understand about using lived experience as evidence to influence policy? What are the benefits and challenges of a ‘lived experience’ approach? And how exactly do you translate the stories of those with lived experiences into concrete recommendations for policy?

This event will be chaired by Urte Macikene, Policy Evidence Lead at the International Public Policy Observatory, with contributions from Dr. Debbie Foster, Professor of Employment Relations and Diversity at Cardiff University, Emily Morrison, Director of Sustainability and JUST Transition and Interim Director for the Institute for Community Studies and Rebecca Curtayne, External Affairs Manager at Healthwatch England.