Alliance for Useful Evidence FAQs

We are delighted to announce that we are working with the ESRC - and others - to create an Alliance for Useful Evidence. We hope you will join us.

The Alliance for Useful Evidence is a new and exciting initiative to bring together a diverse, global community of individuals and organisations from a range of backgrounds. Our ambition is to provide a focal point for the evidence agenda, fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing and debate to help make the most of the excellent work already underway to raise the quality of both the supply of research and the demand for it.

In a time of limited resource, we need to be spending what money is available on the best, most successful approaches. To identify these we need research and evidence. In some areas there is knowledge about what is - and what isn't - effective, but in other areas there may be little known about what is successful. The situation is complicated further by the fact that there are many instances where research is available, but is ignored. We want the Alliance for Useful Evidence to ensure rigorous evidence is available, it is useable, but most importantly, it is used.

There are a number of issues and challenges that can prevent evidence being used in decision making[1]. We believe that many of these challenges are not insurmountable and that we need to actively overcome them to ensure that high-quality evidence can influence decision making. We are developing the Alliance for Useful Evidence to help make this happen.

What is the Alliance for Useful Evidence?

What will the Alliance for Useful Evidence do?

Why is the Alliance for Evidence needed?

How do I join the Alliance for Evidence?

How can I find out more about the Alliance for Useful Evidence?

What is the Alliance for Useful Evidence?

The Alliance for Useful Evidence is an open access, virtual network and global community of individuals and organisations - from academia, government, third sector, think tanks, service providers, funders, and more - with a commitment to developing the evidence base to ensure decision making across our public services draws upon the most effective approaches and solutions.

Following its public announcement in October 2011[2], it has already received widespread attention from a large number of organisations in the UK and internationally.  The network is primarily UK based but has received a great deal of interest from organisations from around the world, and we are partnering with the US Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy to learn from their experience and access their network.

The Alliance is co-funded by NESTA and the ESRC and the network is open to anyone or any organisation that is interested in promoting useful evidence in decision making across all areas of social policy, such as education, criminal justice, children's services and beyond.

What will the Alliance for Useful Evidence do?

The UK Alliance for Evidence will provide a much needed focal point for driving the evidence agenda in the UK. We believe there is huge value in developing a collective voice to advocate for rigorous evidence to be generated and made useable by decision makers. Through events, publications, research and debate, it will explore what is needed to strengthen the evidence base in different social policy domains to improve the connections and collaborations between research, policy and practice.

We recognise that this agenda is not new. We also recognise that there are lots of organisations doing excellent work in this field. The Alliance for Useful Evidence will not compete with or replace these; instead it is our intention to forge linkages with and between them, promoting learning and collaboration across different areas of social policy. Our aim is not to promote any particular method, but rather to act with others as an honest broker, raising the quality of both the supply of research and also the demand for it.

Why is the Alliance for Evidence needed?

The idea that policy and practice should be underpinned by rigorous evidence is internationally accepted, yet billions of pounds are spent every year on social policies and programmes with little rigorous evidence on the impacts of these initiatives. And despite decades of producing excellent research we still encounter problems of getting this integrated into decision making across all areas of social policy and practice.

Though the drive for evidence-based policy and practice is not new, the context of reduced public budgets, devolution of commissioning and procurement mechanisms such as payment by results and social impact bonds bring a renewed focus on understanding "what works".

We need to ensure that evidence is commissioned and carried out in ways that make it more likely to be used and useful; and we need to work with the users of evidence to make it easier for them to act on what's known. We recognise that even the best evidence can be imperfect or incomplete, but it's no longer legitimate for any members of the public, government and others to be ignorant of it.

How do I join the Alliance for Evidence?

Membership is free and open to any individual or organisation with an interest in making evidence used and useable. To sign up, simply fill in this online form.

If you are interested in promoting useful evidence in decision making, would like to connect to a global community of individuals and organisations from a range of sectors and backgrounds, whilst gaining access to stimulating debate, publications and events, then you should join the Alliance for Useful Evidence.

Members will receive priority invitations to the programme of events, newsletters, reports and publications published by the Alliance for Useful Evidence and the wider network. We will contact members of the Alliance for Useful Evidence with details of events and publications soon.

How can I find out more about the Alliance for Useful Evidence?

Whether you are thinking about joining or are a current member who would like to get more involved, there are further details about the Alliance for Useful Evidence here.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, then we'd love to hear from you. Please email us on Alliance4UsefulEvidence@nesta.org.uk

To join the Alliance fill out this online form

[1] See Puttick, R. (2011) Ten Steps to Transform the Use of Evidence

[2] A video and further details of this event are available here