I remember being at an academic gathering of healthcare social scientists a few years back. A lot of withering talk of the dominant paradigm of biomedical research and the limitations of positivist thinking.  Then one of...

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the use and communication of evidence. We are still in the midst of a terrifying upward curve of Covid-19 cases in the UK. History may show that countries such as the...

We live in an era where trust in political institutions is low and declining. It has been suggested that this lack of trust extends to experts too. For too long evidence has been seen as the...

A growing wariness between what is fact and what is fiction in recent years has been highlighted by increased political polarisation, a fractured media and the accelerated pace of technological change. The Evidence Initiative, the recently launched...

This week marks International Open Access Week 2018. At the Alliance for Useful Evidence, we’re big supporters of the principles behind the open access (OA) movement: scholarly research should be available to everyone, not just to...

Changing the way that decision-makers engage with evidence is no easy task. For all our efforts, making high quality evidence available and accessible often just isn’t enough. What motivates a politician to commission a review, or...

When government implements far-reaching policies whilst ignoring the evidence there can be catastrophic consequences, writes Geoff Mulgan (Nesta). Private finance initiatives (PFIs) and public-private partnerships (PPPs) are in the spotlight again thanks to the collapse of...

Evidence should be more than a footnote in the revamped Ministerial Code, says David Walker, contributing editor for Guardian Public and chair of the ESRC’s Understanding Society board. Theresa May has revamped the Ministerial Code, the mini-bible...