EvEx Policy Fellowship applications are open to public and civil servants across the UK - EvEx

Full Job Description

Selene Corran

Evidence Exchange (EvEx) opened applications for its first year of Policy Fellowships on 8 September 2026. The EvEx Policy Fellowship is designed to connect public and civil servants across the UK, devolved administrations, and local government to academics and experts in research organisations.

The three-year EvEx project is funded by UK Research and Innovation through the Economic and Social Research Council, and takes a Policy to Research (P2R) approach, responding to demand for contributions towards evidence-informed policy and delivery of public services. EvEx aims to build P2R infrastructure that provides opportunities for problem-solving, professional development, network building, and enhanced access to expertise, in order to reach a wider range of civil and public servants across the UK.

EvEx Policy Fellowships will be delivered alongside other opportunities, which include: policy labs, hackathons, courses, and sandpits.

During Policy Fellowships, public and civil servants across the UK (working in devolved and local governments, legislatures, and public bodies) will spend time in universities discussing their policy challenges with specially matched academics. These will run throughout December 2026 – May 2027, recruiting over 50 Policy Fellows to be hosted at the seven Evidence Exchange universities. This call is complimentary to the EvEx Associate Policy Fellowship programme, which is supporting more universities to run their own Policy Fellowships. Further details will be shared when those have been selected.

The EvEx teams have hosted several webinars since the applications opened to outline the project’s mission, its benefits, how it will be delivered in practice, and to answer specific questions. The key points are summarised below.

Who Is Eligible For A Policy Fellowship?

The programme is open to public and civil servants across the UK, including across different levels of government, legislatures, public bodies, and at all levels of seniority. It is part of EvEx’s mission to support diversity across these areas. Applications are welcome from individuals or small teams (of 2 – 5 people).

For anyone considering applying, you will be asked about the potential for policy impact or impact on public service delivery from taking part in the Fellowship.

Applications will be assessed by a panel with expertise in academic research and policymaking. The key criteria for assessing applications will be:

• The impact that the Fellowship will have on your ability to use academic research in your work;

• The impact that the Fellowship will have on your wider learning and professional development;

• The potential for the Fellowship to contribute to policy developments and evidence needs that are strategically important for your organisation;

• How well your proposal matches the expertise contained within the available host universities.

What Are We Looking For?

The Policy Fellowship might be a good fit for you if you:

• Have a policy, service or practice challenge that needs deeper exploration;

• Want to understand what evidence exists, where gaps remain, or what can be learned from research and practice;

• Are willing to work collaboratively with researchers and other experts;

• Can commit time to Fellowship activity and share learning with others;

• And can identify a realistic way in which your learnings could inform decisions, policy or practice.

What Could A Policy Fellowship Look Like?

EvEx Policy Fellows will spend up to five days at a university, or universities, between December 2026 – May 2027. There are no specific requirements around the policy areas that Fellows can ask researchers about. Questions should avoid being so broad that they cannot be explored meaningfully within the scope of the Fellowship or the potential contribution to public policy would be unclear, or so specific that they would suggest that few academics would be able to contribute expertise.

The process of matching Policy Fellows with researchers is designed to be flexible and broad, because many policy problems do not fall neatly along disciplinary boundaries. Depending on the Policy Fellow’s specific policy focus, these visits may include:

• Meeting with academic researchers to discuss policy questions and gain subject-specific knowledge. This could be individual researchers or with a cross-disciplinary group in a roundtable discussion.

• Taking part in relevant seminars or events offered by the host university.

• The potential to reciprocate benefits through giving guest lectures.

• Building your network of like-minded civil servants also taking part in the Policy Fellowship programme and accessing tools and resources.

Day 1 8.00 – travel (or arrive the night before) 9.00 – meeting with EvEx team to brief you on your visit 9.15 – travel 9.30 – meeting with researcher 1 10.30 – walk to next meeting 11.00 – meeting with researcher 2 12.00 – travel 12.15 – lunchtime meeting with researcher 3 and her postdoc researcher 4 1.30 – time off to reflect and make notes 2.30 – taxi to next meeting 2.45 – meeting with academic research team 3.45 – tour of team lab 4.15 – walk to next meeting 4.30 – meeting with researcher 5 5.30 – taxi to accommodation and time to relax 6.00 – optional evening lecture or seminar in university 7.30 – free time

9.00 – meeting with researcher 6 10.15 – walk to next meeting 10.30 – meeting with researcher 7 11.45 – walk to next meeting 12.00 – lunch with another Policy Fellow 1.00 – time off to reflect and make notes 1.30 – meeting with researcher 8 2.30 – walk to next meeting 2.45 – meeting with researcher 9 3.45 – taxi to next meeting 4.00 – meet with fellowship coordinator to discuss meetings and reflections. Explore the direction for visit 2 and set dates. 5.00 – travel home

In order to engage fully with your Policy Fellowship, it may be beneficial to complete some pre-reading before your visits. Where this is appropriate, relevant material will be provided by the researcher. This may require some time to be set aside, though we expect that it will also contribute to the Policy Fellow’s work.

After Your Fellowship

You will have a chance to reflect on your Policy Fellowship experience and share your learning more widely. We will ask you to produce an output from your Fellowship, which may include a short case study of your experience, evidence of your experience feeding into existing projects, or a presentation to your peers on what you learned. We will also be seeking mentors for future cohorts, so you will have an opportunity to share your learning and experience directly with others.

The Benefits Of The Policy Fellowship

The programme affords Policy Fellows the opportunity to:

• Strengthen your policy work with input from academics through the programme

• Improve your understanding of a policy area from a research perspective and further develop your data analysis and evaluation skills

• Understand how to access relevant research and engage with academics to inform your work

• Develop wider skills related to working collaboratively and across boundaries and disciplines

• You will also have the chance to meet other public and civil servants near you taking part in the programme, and to be part of a wider network of EvEx Policy Fellows

EvEx is committed to ensuring that Policy Fellowships support a wide range of public and civil servants. As such, we will work with you to co-create your bespoke Fellowship, adapting wherever possible to your specific practical and policy focus requirements. This might mean, for example, that if one member of your team is unable to join in person, or there is a particularly relevant academic specialist at another university, we set up an online call to enhance your Fellowship. There is also the opportunity that through the EvEx hubs across each devolved nation, we are able to arrange multi-city fellowships to connect the Policy Fellows with expertise across the UK.

If You Have More Questions, Please Feel Free To Get In Touch With The Contact For Your Area:

EvEx England (University of Cambridge): Immy at evex@csap.cam.ac.uk

EvEx Scotland (University of Edinburgh): Anna at EvEx.Scotland@ed.ac.uk

EvEx Wales (Swansea University): Oliver at oliver.williams@swansea.ac.uk

EvEx Northern Ireland (Queen’s University Belfast): Immy at evex@csap.cam.ac.uk

Grants up to £62,500 available for research organisations to host Policy Fellowships

The programme is open to public and civil servants across the UK, including across different levels of government, legislatures, public bodies, and at all levels of seniority. It is part of EvEx’s mission to support diversity across these areas. Applications are welcome from individuals or small teams (of 2 – 5 people).

For anyone considering applying, you will be asked about the potential for policy impact or impact on public service delivery from taking part in the Fellowship.

Applications will be assessed by a panel with expertise in academic research and policymaking. The key criteria for assessing applications will be:

• The impact that the Fellowship will have on your ability to use academic research in your work;

• The impact that the Fellowship will have on your wider learning and professional development;

• The potential for the Fellowship to contribute to policy developments and evidence needs that are strategically important for your organisation;

• How well your proposal matches the expertise contained within the available host universities.

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