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

Full Job Description

Juliette Searle

Applications for the EvEx Associate Policy Fellowship scheme opened on the 1 September 2026. This call invites UK-based organisations, eligible for UKRI funding, to apply for up to £62,500 (fEC) to run a policy-to-research (P2R) programme to host public and civil servants. The aim of this scheme is to improve the UK’s current P2R offer by providing opportunities for research organisations beyond the Evidence Exchange (EvEx) consortium to host funded Policy Fellowships.

A webinar on 9 September focused on and addressed questions regarding the Evidence Exchange (EvEx) Associate Policy Fellowships following the opening of applications on 1 September 2026. Nicola Buckley, EvEx Policy Lead, introduced the broader purpose of the EvEx project to the wide variety of institutions interested in this competitive funding scheme. The project, over the next three years, aims to create national infrastructure that makes it possible for more public and civil servants to access and discover opportunities for learning and research exchange. Funded Policy Fellowships will contribute to this by increasing the capacity and diversity of the opportunities for Policy to Research (P2R) pathways. These fellowships will enable civil and public servants to build skills and understanding of research, evidence, and data for policy development by engaging in relevant activities in an academic setting.

Evex Policy Fellowship Schemes 2026/27

Christina Rozeik, EvEx Project Manager, outlined the specific details of the EvEx Associate Policy Fellowship scheme which will be hosted at universities and research organisations across the UK, and funded through awarded grants of up to £62,500 (fEC; awards are made at 80% fEC). These will occur simultaneously with EvEx Policy Fellowships hosted by members of the EvEx Consortium, creating a cohort of more than 100 new Policy Fellows during 2027.

What Is A Policy Fellowship And What Does It Look Like?

Policy Fellowships will not look the same across every institution, but here are some important things to keep in mind when completing your applications:

• Research organisations applying should consider how they wish to approach the process of selecting Policy Fellows to be hosted. This can include interacting with the EvEx Policy Fellowship programme as we expect to receive more good applications from public and civil servants than can be hosted during the time period at the universities in the EvEx consortium.

• Visits must take place between January and May 2027 due to funding requirements (but if you do not think you will have the capacity to execute this, please do still get in touch as there may be other opportunities across the three years of the project).

• Policy Fellows will have ~5 days of in-person policy engagement organised at the host university. These days need not be sequential, but it may be preferable to offer two days simultaneously to increase engagement and aid administrative load. Each fellowship should be driven by the individual Fellow’s policy questions with specific 1:1 meetings, roundtable discussions etc. organised around these.

• Policy Fellows may take advantage of other learning opportunities at their host university including, but not limited to, lectures, seminars, library resources, site visits, informal lunches and networking events.

• Policy Fellows will build their network of researchers and other Policy Fellows. It is encouraged to include a broad range of academic expertise in this process including postdocs and PhD students, where relevant to the specific policy questions.

• Fellowships may result in collaborative or co-produced policy outputs providing a fruitful opportunity for researchers to have direct impact in the policy space.

Reporting

There will be two points where universities and research organisations will be asked to report on their progress made:

• In March 2027 (roughly at the mid-point of your programme), you will fill in an interim report that includes information about the EvEx Policy Fellows recruited, progress made to date, and budget spend.

• In June 2027 (after the programme has finished), you will submit a final report asking for full details of the programme and expenditure, as well as any impacts that have arisen so far.

What Support Will Exist To Develop These Policy Fellowships?

Alongside the grant, host institutions will engage with the coaching and learning programme which will offer advice and support from consultants with expertise in this space throughout the process. Research organisations hosting EvEx Associate Policy Fellowships and those within the EvEx Consortium will work collaboratively to share ideas and best practices including the sharing of templates and the co-production of an updated toolkit for host institutions that builds on the 2022 toolkit produced by the Capabilities in Academic Policy Engagement (CAPE) project: Hosting Policy Fellows: a guide for Higher Education Institutions).

Coaching And Learning Programme

Through our coaching and learning programme there will be specific support for host institutions, including training on how to run a policy fellowship scheme from recruitment to evaluation, access to shared templates and resources, and facilitated spaces where host organisations can share advice, reflections and best practice. Research Organisations are not expected or encouraged to apply for this funding with specific Policy Fellows in mind and instead will be aided through EvEx with administering and advertising their own competitive application process. There may be further opportunity to recruit from a pool of public and civil servants identified as strong candidates by the selection panel of EvEx Policy Fellows within the EvEx consortium.

What Are We Looking For?

EvEx is seeking applications from organisations eligible for UKRI funding to host P2R fellowships driven by policy questions. Applications can come from either individual research organisations or groups of institutions offering to jointly run a Policy Fellowship programme. Typically, these will look to host between 3-10 Policy Fellows across ~5 days of in-person engagement at the host university, but these requirements are not prescriptive and EvEx welcomes the development of new ways of engagement, as well as applications for less than the maximum funding available.

The programmes must integrate a process for selection of Policy Fellows, which the EvEx team is happy to support and amplify. Applications can focus on areas of institutional strength, but you must ensure that the policy area is not too narrow to create greater diversity of opportunity for public and civil servants across the UK and to prevent policy engagement fatigue among participating researchers at your institution.

It is not a requirement for organisations to have previously run Policy Fellowships. EvEx strongly encourages applications from organisations that have not delivered Policy Fellowships in the past, as well as those who have experience in this area.

Applications will be assessed by a panel with expertise in academic research and policy making. The key criteria for assessing organisation’s applications will be:

• Your ability to deliver the proposed programme on time and in budget (including whether you have sufficient professional services and academic capacity available)

• Your breadth and depth of research expertise relevant to public and civil servants

• Your track record in delivering successful academic-policy engagement activities

• Whether your proposal represents good value for money.

How To Cost Your Application?

The maximum budget for your project (fEC) should be £62,500; awards are 80% fEC (i.e. a maximum of £50,000 cash value).

Eligible Costs:

• Professional services staff time

• Academic staff time

• Accommodation (and possibly travel if cannot be covered by employer) for the Policy Fellows

• Any other costs associated with the Fellowship programme

• Ineligible costs:

• Buyout of Policy Fellows’ time

• Research or any other costs not directly associated with the programme.

Further Questions?

We encourage you to discuss your proposal with the EvEx team before submission to check eligibility and scope, as well as answer any questions you may have. Please contact Christina Rozeik (evex@csap.cam.ac.uk) to arrange a quick chat.

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