The International Public Policy Observatory (IPPO) aims to mobilise and assess evidence from across the four nations of the United Kingdom, and beyond, to inform policymakers about the best ways to address social harms..
Our overall ambition is to contribute to better policymaking and thereby to the wellbeing of all UK citizens.
Established at the start of the global pandemic in late 2020, the observatory’s initial focus was measures to mitigate the negative effects of COVID-19.
Over two years, we synthesised large bodies of evidence to explain what we knew about the impact of the pandemic on education, mental health, social capital, NHS staff wellbeing, and health misinformation, and what we could learn from these findings.
We distilled these reviews into policy steers that could be absorbed into decision-making processes and held regular online events to forge new partnerships between policymakers, academics and policy researchers.
In January 2023, IPPO started its second two-year phase and our research topics will extend not only to pandemic recovery, but also three other national cross-cutting and complex policy challenges: Place and Spatial Inequality, Socio-Economic Inequalities, Net Zero and COVID Recovery.
IPPO’s policy research questions will be shaped and framed by numerous and diverse conversations with decision-makers from across the devolved nations and draw on research and expertise from around the world.
The primary audience for our work is national governments, umbrella bodies such as the Local Government Association, and combined and local authorities. But we will also work closely with the UK’s network of thought leaders in these fields, from third-sector bodies and think-tanks, to academic institutions, to amplify our impact.
An initiative like IPPO demands a team of people with diverse skills and experience. This Observatory brings together people who have worked in policy development and implementing environments alongside academic and policy researchers. All of us are committed to bridging the gaps between research and policy to achieve positive social impact.