Policy Lab UK

Our film ethnography is going into the metaverse! With virtual worlds becoming an increasing part of everyday life, we must understand them and explore them as research sites in their own right. We have developed ethnography in the metaverse so they we can do just this. We can now spend time with participants in online spaces to explore their worlds and communities and how that is relevant for policy. You can read about the benefits of this exciting new approach below in our latest article below, where we developed avatars in Grand Theft Auto to gather new types of evidence from diverse participants about policy: https://lnkd.in/em9cw37G Please contact team@policylab.gov.uk to find out more. Words by Kyna Gourley and Isabelle Introna Pinny Grylls Sam Crane

Our panel conversation with Demos this week covered rich, emergent ground, the integration of arts and participatory policymaking. You can rewatch the event and hear from our speakers, including citizen jury members, about work to rethink participatory government and decision-making through embodied, experiential and socially engaged practice. https://lnkd.in/g2a5nNzW Stephen Bennett, Catherine Howe, Everyone Here, Miriam Levin

Policy Lab has been working at the forefront of people-centred and participatory methods for 10 years - bringing new evidence, understanding and empathy to policy. In our latest blog we show a spectrum of these methods, speculatively map them against the policy cycle and reflect on how they can be used by policy professionals. You can read more here: shorturl.at/352w3 and sign up for our event with Demos exploring themes of creativity and participation in policy on 25th Nov: https://shorturl.at/c2Vll Stephen Bennett Dr. Camilla Buchanan Neha Sharma Catherine Day Andrew Knight Policy Profession Tamara Finkelstein Catherine Howe

📢 New event! 📢 Join Demos' Collaborative Democracy Network as we sit down with policymakers, artists, and civil society to explore creative ways to make government more approachable, engaging, and inclusive. Our exciting line up of speakers features: ➡ Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and Head of Policy Profession ➡ Catherine Howe, Chief Executive, Adur and Worthing Councils ➡ Yara El-Sherbini, one half of pioneering social practice artist duo YARA + DAVINA ➡ Kieran Sheehan , Co-Director, Everyone Here ➡ Miriam Levin, Director of Participatory Programmes, Demos (Chair) 📆 25 November, 6:00pm 📺 In person and online 👉 https://lnkd.in/emQCVVzb This event is supported by Policy Lab UK.

We collaborated with Natural England to consider the role that creative practitioners can play supporting protected environmental sites. The work builds our MANIFEST programme, supported by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which explores the possible role of art in policymaking. Initial ideas include student placements with Natural England, course-integrations, summer schools, competitions, on-site workshops and the creation of shared resources such as databases and collaborative maps – read more from our research with universities here: https://lnkd.in/dsqJvZ3W Written by: Brendan Arnold & Stephen Bennett With thanks to our collaborators: Ros Gray, Simon Andrews, Tanya Griffiths, Lucelia Rodrigues, Dr Jo Phillips, Nina Stevenson, Ana Rute Costa, Natural England

We're recruiting designers at Policy Lab - please do share on :)

WE ARE RECRUITING! Are you a designer wanting to use your skills to help solve policy challenges in innovative, beautiful and people-centred ways? Join Policy Lab! See more details on Civil Service Jobs, deadline Sunday 20 October.

Policy Lab is part of the Policy Festival! Open to all Civil Servants, our session is Monday 30th 12-1pm, just after Tamara Finkelstein kicks off the festival with an interview with Simon Case and Susan Acland-Hood. See Co-Head of Lab, Stephen Bennett, as part of a star-studded panel with Sir Geoff Mulgan, Marta Urquilla, Ravi Gurumurthy chaired by Sapana Agrawal speaking about innovation in policy – from #collectiveintelligence to our work with creative practitioners and systemic thinkers. See details and book your free spot here: https://lnkd.in/eU7nZA9n #PolicyFestival

Our co-Head of Policy Lab, Dr. Camilla Buchanan, is speaking at the launch of 'Design for dementia, mental health and wellbeing: Co-design, Interventions and Policy' tonight. We have contributed a chapter highlighting Policy Lab’s decade-long experience in understanding and involving citizens in policy creation - where mental health often plays a defining role in how, and whether, people engage with government and public services. Vanessa Lefton, Dr Kate Langham

Co-Head of Policy Lab Stephen Bennett recently spoke at the The British Academy's Adventures in Interdisciplinarity event, reflecting on how making, showing and framing have helped make the case for artistic approaches in policy. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/drNv-CDk