(S5E2) Working with policymakers with Professor Ilias Trispiotis

In our weekly Research Culture Uncovered conversations we are asking what is Research Culture and why does it matter? This is the second episode of Season 5, where we are investigating the impact of impact on research culture. In this episode your host Ged is joined by Professor Ilias Trispiotis. Ilias is Professor in Human Rights Law from the School of Law at the University of Leeds. He is an expert in international European and comparative human rights law, discrimination law, human rights and discrimination theory, law and religion. He is also the School of Law's Co-lead for Impact and Engagement.In this episode Ged discusses Ilias’s experience of working with policymakers and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in seeking to ban conversion therapy by law in the UK and New Zealand. The key points from the discussion are:Working with policymakers can be hugely enjoyable because they do work in an evidence-based way and their testing of your arguments is can be extremely rigorousPolicymakers are extremely results driven, which can really align with research impact. But this does mean that they are driving for straightforward answers that are free from jargon.As well as rigorous examination of your arguments, often via counter-factuals, policymakers respond to the personal stories of people who have been affected.When you work with lots of NGOs (Ilias worked with over 70) the change you are looking to make is the ‘glue’ that keeps those collaborations together Reach out to these types of organisations as early as possible. They are often gatekeepers into the policy space and they will help you to refine the questions and issues you should explore.They are also campaigning organisations, so know how to make change happen (they are impact experts).Don’t be afraid to reach out into policy debates and find allies to help.Be proud of your impact and make sure that comes across in your promotion applications etc.<br/>You can connect with Ilias on LinkedIn and Twitter @iliastrispiotis[GH1] Be sure to check out the other episodes in this season to find out more.Research culture links:Researcher Development and Culture WebsiteOur Concordat Implemention plans and progressUniversity of Leeds Research Culture StatementUniversity of Leeds Responsible Metrics StatementUniversity of Leeds Open Research Statement<br/>Follow us on twitter: @ResDevLeeds, @OpenResLeeds, @ResCultureLeeds, @HallGedConnect to us on LinkedIn: