Connecting research with public policy at Overton

Overton’s platform helps researchers understand the policy landscape and grow the real-world impact of their work.

When the Overton team approached us – thanks to a referral from a previous client – they’d identified a need for online training and wanted us to take on the entire course creation process, from initial research and writing through to design and build.

Screenshot from the Overton course - asection about policymakers, with a grid of 6 flashcards, each with a colourful icon of a person or group of people e.g. a woman standing at a lectern or a scientist in a white coat.
Screenshot from the Overton course with the heading "How can researchers engage with policymaking?", a subheading "Before engaging", then some text and the first slide of a set of slides showing different questions to consider, with a colourful icon
Screenshot from the Overton course, showing a simplified illustration of a policy brief document with four pages of text, bullet poinys, graphs, links and contact details. There are interactive hotspots that can be selected for more information.

Background

How can we tackle climate change? Manage future pandemics? Achieve digital inclusion?

These are all questions that policymakers – like politicians and civil servants – have to address. To do this effectively, they need access to accurate and up-to-date evidence so that they can make informed decisions about what policies to enact.

Overton is on a mission is to bridge the gap between research and policy. And they identified a learning need: many of their target audience – researchers – did not know how the policymaking process worked, who was involved, or how they could even begin to engage with it.

Project details

The Overton team knew the topics they wanted to cover, but had no-one lined up to write the content. Leah stepped up to the challenge, researched the chosen topics, and produced a first draft of a 90-minute course designed to help researchers understand the policymaking process and reflect on their own motivations and intentions for engagement.

Overton had a great brand colour palette, and after picking out the best colour combinations to ensure accessible colour contrast, we had great fun designing the course.

We wanted learners to feel ready to apply what they’d learned to their own context, so we created a number of recurring features: fictional researchers representing a range of disciplines and geographical contexts, mini real-world case studies, and regular reminders to pause and reflect on personal context.

The Overton team was able to review the course at regular intervals throughout the development process, from draft storyboard to online build. Knowing how busy they were, we also offered to come to their offices in London in the final week of the project, so that we could review the course in detail, agreeing on any final edits together. This took a few hours, but was a really good way to ensure the project leads at Overton were happy with the course and to make the last amendments efficiently!

Impact

We created an online course that can be taken by researchers in any discipline, working within higher education or research institutions. The course provides an introduction to an area of engagement which is complex and challenging, but also fascinating and rewarding. It encourages learners to reflect on their motivations, set realistic expectations, and take active steps to shape their own policy engagement journey.

By encouraging researchers to engage with policymakers, Overton is supporting a shift towards more evidence-based or evidence-informed policy, something that has been highlighted as a priority for policymaking in the UK and overseas. And we’re really proud to have played a part in this!