Reflections from the Government–University Pairing Scheme 

Kate Gerrand, Head of Health Protection Research in the Department of Health and Social Care, and Peter Van der Graaf, Professor in Knowledge Exchange at the University of Northumbria, were paired together as part of the Government-University Pairing Scheme run by UPEN in collaboration with the Government Office for Science. We spoke to Kate and Peter to ask about their experiences and learnings from the scheme. 

Could you start by telling us a bit about your roles? 

Kate: I am Head of Health Protection Research in the Department of Health and Social Care. My role is to support health protection policy teams with the evidence they need to develop and implement effective policy, as well as to oversee the health protection research that we fund through the National Institute for Health and Care Research. I work on a broad portfolio of research including infectious disease, environmental hazards, emergency preparedness, and response to health threats.  

Peter: I’m a Professor in Knowledge Exchange at the University of Northumbria. In this role, I am involved in several North East and national research infrastructures that aim to mobilise academic research findings into practice and policy.  

What made you a good match for this pairing? 

Kate: We both work in knowledge mobilisation of health research, but from different sides of the government-academia divide. A big benefit for me was getting a better view of National Institute for Health and Care Research infrastructure from the inside. Through conversations and shadowing, I saw how different parts of the system fit together, from the NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) and Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Teams to local authority research networks. It also highlighted how complex that landscape is, with a lot of overlap but also genuine value in different layers of activity. 

Peter: My focus has previously been on public health in local government. The conversations with Kate as part of the pairing scheme helped me to reflect more widely on knowledge mobilisation in national government, an area that I am much less familiar with.  

Through conversations and shadowing, I saw how different parts of the system fit together. It highlighted how complex that landscape is, with a lot of overlap but also genuine value in different layers of activity.

Did any shared challenges or themes come up in your conversations? 

Kate: We kept coming back to knowledge mobilisation as a shared challenge. There is a lot of effort going into generating good evidence and supporting applied research, but less consistent support for the early partnership work that makes that possible, and for the follow through that ensures findings are actually used. We had lots of discussions about how we can create effective and sustainable research mobilisation systems while also recognising the fundamentally relational aspects of this work.  

We also talked a lot about timing. Policy decisions often move quickly, while research takes longer. That creates a mismatch which both sides are aware of, but don’t always manage to bridge. We can try to have a better sense of policy windows, and design research and engagement around them.  

What did the shadowing side of the scheme look like in practice? 

Peter: Kate invited me to observe a two-day NIHR Strategy and Engagement Board meeting, which gave me an insight view of how the department works with directors of the different research programmes and infrastructures to ensure research is aligned with key government priorities. And in turn how these priorities are informed by research evidence. Knowledge mobilisation featured less in these conversations, creating opportunities for discussion, not just about funding new research but also about how we can make better use of existing evidence in decision making and across infrastructures. 

I was impressed by Kate’s team’s efforts within the department to commission research that supports the decisions that ministers make on a daily basis and gained a deeper appreciation of the pressures that they face in a complex political environment. I was even more impressed by her continuous efforts to mobilise knowledge from research and get the right evidence in front of the right senior department staff at the right time, championing the work of NIHR funded researchers. We spoke a lot about the shared challenges in this space, both from a government and research perspective.  

I was impressed by Kate’s team’s efforts within the department to commission research that supports the decisions that ministers make on a daily basis and gained a deeper appreciation of the pressures that they face in a complex political environment.

Looking back, what will you both take away from the scheme? 

Kate: A better understanding of how research systems operate in practice, and the constraints people are working within. How important relationships are in making any of this work, and how much of knowledge mobilisation depends on those informal connections rather than formal structures. Overall, the scheme works because it creates space for this kind of exchange. It does not try to force a particular output, but instead builds understanding that you take back into your own role. Carving out time and space for catch ups was invaluable and helped us to learn from each other and reflect on how the research-policy system actually works.  

Peter: The pairing scheme provides us with space and time to reflect on these shared challenges, creating a shared understanding through wide ranging, enjoyable conversations.  

Any final thoughts? 

Peter: I would like to thank Kate for making time for these conversations in her busy role and talking openly about the challenges she was facing while mobilising research evidence in the department. She made the conversations friendly and fun, and I look forward to continuing those conversations with her!  

Carving out time and space for catch ups was invaluable and helped us to learn from each other and reflect on how the research-policy system actually works.

Kate: I am very grateful to Peter for his thoughtful, curious, and generous approach to the pairing. We will definitely keep in touch! 

Thank you to Peter and Kate for sharing their experiences.  

Image credit: By Department of Health and Social Care – https://twitter.com/DHSCgovuk/status/1497600864319586315, OGL 3, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115642362