People development

Policy Leeds supports the following personal development opportunities for University of Leeds researchers, to help them engage more effectively with policy. 

Engaged Research Team

The Engaged Research Microsoft Team is our digital space to bring together everyone who is involved in or interested in engagement with research at the University of Leeds. 

The team:

  • shares research engagement intelligence, including intelligence on opportunities, support and training
  • provides a one-stop shop for support and resources on research engagement
  • brings people together from across the University around engagement with research (public, policy and third sector engagement, and patient involvement)
  • provides regular networking and events related to engagement, including termly sessions organised by Policy Leeds.

University of Leeds members can join the Engaged Research Team by opening Microsoft Teams and selecting ‘Join or create a team’. When prompted, enter the code fc84jre. An administrator will then approve your request.

Policy engagement kickstart

Policy engagement kickstart is a policy engagement development programme developed by the Institute for Government, in conjunction with Policy Leeds, OD&PL and Leeds Social Science Institute (LSSI)

The programme is aimed at those who are new, or relatively new, to policy engagement and provides practical steps to getting started.

It is open to researchers (including postgraduate researchers) and research support professionals, and consists of four modules covering the following areas:

  • the landscape of government and policy making,
  • policy making, evidence and engagement,
  • developing networks and building your profile,
  • communicating your research.

Registration is open for courses running in the 2023–2024 academic year:

Please email the Policy Leeds team at policyleeds@leeds.ac.uk if you have any questions about the course.

For other research impact professional development opportunities and resources, please see the OD&PL Developing your research impact resources page.

Be inspired by our policy leaders

Whether you are struggling to get going or seeking ideas on what might be possible, our policy leader biographies show that engaging with policy is for all career stages and academic disciplines. 

Related links