Universal Credit

Dr Rita Griffiths and Dr Marsha Wood continue to research Universal Credit (UC), most recently examining the interaction between UC and Council Tax Reduction. Their work has been shared with policy advisers from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Throughout the year, they have presented research on UC and self-employment to the DWP, the Social Policy Association Conference, the Employment Related Services Association, among others.

They also presented their work on UC and childcare to an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Single-Parent Families, and contributed to the government’s call for evidence on improving support for children and parents.

Artificial intelligence and the future of work

Dr Aida Garcia-Lazaro leads our research into the impact of AI on labour markets. She was awarded an Impact Acceleration Award for a project that examines integrating AI and digital skills research into digital strategy and policy. She has participated in roundtables about AI, skills and digital research and delivered a masterclass to senior civil servants on AI, the labour market and policy design.

Widening participation in higher education

Professor Matt Dickson leads this research stream for the IPR, exploring the factors that promote participation from a broader range of students and the policies and practices that enhance wider successful participation in HE.

This year, the team published their research into the effect of the Opportunity Areas (OA) programme on young people’s educational attitudes and aspirations and interviewed the Rt Hon Justine Greening, instigator of the OA programme, for an IPR blog post. They also held public events, bringing together voices from OA communities to reflect on challenges in their areas and to share ideas for improving employability, skills and life chances.

In late 2025, findings from a project that aims to understand grade inflation in the UK’s universities were presented to the Department for Education and the first paper from the project Risky business: Understanding intergenerational persistence in entrepreneurship was presented to local and national policymakers.

Local Health and Global Profits

Dr Geoff Bates and Dr Andrea Serna-Castaño work with colleagues in the Centre for 21st Century Public Health on the Local Health and Global Profits project. This supports local government actors to tackle the negative influences of corporations on public health outcomes, sometimes referred to as the ‘commercial determinants of health’.

Current activities include identifying the tools and resources needed to support local authorities, exploring public attitudes towards public health policies with cross-party voter groups, and developing researcher capacity for creative methods to communicate evidence to policymakers. Dr Bates is also contributing to research exploring how to strengthen the governance of climate change policymaking, through policies to manage conflicts of interest.

TRUUD (Tackling the Root causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development)

As part of the TRUUD project, Dr Bates, researchers from the Department of Economics and partners at the University of Bristol collaborated with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to develop a tool that helps decision-makers to assess and value the health impacts of improving the environment – the Health Appraisal of Urban Systems model (HAUS).

The HAUS model is now integrated into government guidance, making health impacts a key consideration when MHCLG assesses the value for money of urban design interventions.

The model was also included in a major new World Health Organization report.

Professor Nick Pearce has completed his latest book, World Island, co-authored with Professor Michael Kenny (University of Cambridge), and it is due to be published in early 2027. It examines the maritime idea in British politics since the Elizabethan era. Dr David Klemperer has provided research assistance.

Dr Klemperer recorded a series of four podcast episodes on ‘political conversions’ for David Runciman’s Past Present Future podcast. He will record a further series on ‘collaboration’ in the autumn.

Dr Klemperer’s research examines the problem of low voter turnout and the case for compulsory voting. In April, he submitted written evidence to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee's modernising elections inquiry. On the wider topic of electoral reform, he has contributed to briefings in Parliament for MPs and Councillors organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Elections.

Dr Klemperer has also been responsible for two issues of Renewal: A journal of social democracy this year: a double issue discussing Labour’s first year in government and a collection of essays from the Tribune Group of Labour MPs.

Finance and public policy

Dr Charles Larkin, Dr Jose Muñiz, Dr Aida Garcia-Lazaro and Professor Shaen Corbet (Dublin City University) have published work examining firm performance linked to AI labour market signals and volatility analysis.

Dr Larkin continues to work on the economics of cryptocurrencies, as well as public policy work related to the economics of transport with the Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS).

Dr Larkin is also part of an expert panel on AI skills requirements for Microsoft AI Futures and on access to higher education with the UK Social Mobility Commission. He was also part of the stakeholder consultation group for the development of the inaugural strategic plan for Research Ireland.

This year, Dr Larkin led two conferences with ART-AI: a panel on AI policy and an AI, ethics and faith conference. A third conference will follow in autumn 2026.

Throughout the DPRP course, students have access to a wide range of sector-specific expertise across the University, including industrial strategy, international development, health, education and digital public policy.

The course is structured in two stages: a taught stage and a research stage. Over two to three years, students in the taught stage of the programme receive training in policy research and analysis, and developing their research ideas. Students in the research stage have completed the taught component and undertake an independent research study and write their thesis.

There are over 60 mid-career policy professionals currently on the course. Another 21 have completed their doctorates and eight more students will begin in September 2026 as part of the 12th cohort.

The IPR Policy Fellowship Programme

This programme connects academics from across the University of Bath with senior policymakers and decision-makers from government and the third sector. In addition to our flagship programme, we have specialist streams on artificial intelligence, health and net zero.

This year, we hosted 94 meetings, connecting 26 policymakers with 84 academics and professional service staff. We successfully engaged policymakers from the Department for Business and Trade, Department for Health and Social Care, Skills England and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, among others.

The visits have expanded the evidence base for numerous policies and resulted in Bath academics being invited to join focused policy events and advisory boards. Read case studies from recent Policy Fellows.

Bath Policy Engagement Academy

The BPEA aims to enhance policy engagement training activities across the University and expand the University’s policy engagement impact regionally, nationally and internationally. Online guides act as useful resources for academics at the University and beyond, with resources on policy briefs being particularly popular.

IPR colleagues have offered one-to-one policy engagement support for UKRI policy fellowships, Number 10 innovation fellowships, UKRI future leaders fellowships, parliamentary and governmental calls for evidence, All Party Parliamentary Group meetings and funding applications.

In addition, IPR staff have delivered training on communicating with non-academic audiences and evidencing impact through the ‘lunch with impact’ series, mentored knowledge exchange fellows, contributed to research sandpits and attended departmental/faculty meetings to inform colleagues about the BPEA and other policy engagement opportunities.

Policy Profession masterclasses

The IPR is one of a small number of organisations that run masterclasses for the Policy Profession Unit within the civil service. These are closed sessions with senior civil servants and offer detailed insight into a topic, along with opportunities for policy discussion and questions.

Sessions this year have included: how to get back to strategic government in an era of serial crises (Professor Nick Pearce); insights on the risk and security implications of emerging technologies (Professor David Galbreath); and the effects of artificial intelligence for policymaking and the labour market (Professor Emma Carmel and Dr Aida Garcia-Lazaro).

As well as authoring over 30 academic papers, we produced ten IPR policy briefs and reports, with each delivered to strategic and key contacts working in fields relevant to the publication’s findings and recommendations.

• What price is free? Evolution of nursery prices in England in the wake of 2024 childcare reform. Dr Joanna Clifton-Sprigg, Professor Kerry Papps and Sara Linjawi.
• Green shoots of hope? Increased optimism about future study and work in England’s Opportunity Areas. Dr Jo Davies, Professor Matt Dickson, Professor Michael Donnelly, Professor Ceri Brown, Professor Nadia Siddiqui, Professor Nick Pearce, Professor Rich Harris, Dr Elle Young and Dr Chris Cunningham.
• Addendum to ‘six weeks for dad’s proposal’. Dr Joanna Clifton-Sprigg, Dr Alistair Hunt and James Bailey.
• Making higher education work for Indigenous peoples in Mexico. Dr Gunther Dietz, Dr Judith Pérez-Castro and Professor Michael Donnelly.
• Paternity allowance: Six weeks for self-employed and worker dads. Dr Joanna Clifton-Sprigg, Dr Alistair Hunt and James Bailey.
• Improving access and participation in higher education: A case for enhancing evaluation evidence. Dr Joanne Moore and Annette Hayton.
• Council Tax Reduction and Universal Credit: Winners and losers of the postcode lottery (Report). Dr Rita Griffiths and Dr Marsha Wood.
• Council Tax Reduction and Universal Credit: Winners and losers of the postcode lottery (Policy Brief). Dr Rita Griffiths and Dr Marsha Wood.
• Designing contracts for chaos. Miguel Díaz-Martínez.
• From proximity to inclusion: A new framework for urban green space policy. Zina Abdulla, Dr Dima Albadra, Dr Sophia Hatzisavvidou and Dr Nick McCullen.

Dr Clifton-Sprigg’s research has been cited in a Parliamentary briefing on parental leave and childcare policy and The UK's Equal Parenting Report 2026.