Research is critical to informing effective public policy, but there’s a gap between the academics who generate research and the policymakers who can act on it. Policymakers don’t always use academic research to its fullest potential because research is often focused on methods and findings and may lack explicit connections to policy. Scholars aren’t always well equipped to translate their research and evidence into policy action, either.

Still, academics play an essential role in shaping equity-focused policies. In 2019, Elizabeth Warren used Louise Seamster and her team’s findings (PDF) to support the student debt cancellation plans that made up her policy platform. The findings showed the plan would increase wealth for Black and Latinx families while reducing their respective racial wealth gaps. In 2021, the Biden-Harris administration reformed federal procurement processes to deliver new opportunities to Black-owned and other small, disadvantaged businesses, a decision backed in part by an analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Understanding the need for a strong link between academic research and public policy, Urban and Goldman Sachs partnered to create the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women Research Partnership (OMBW), a policy-focused learning community of scholars of color conducting research on the racial wealth gap and its disparate impacts on Black women. The partnership has engaged two cohorts of scholars across the nation who’ve made important contributions to the academic literature on the racial wealth gap, and Urban supports them as they develop new research publications for policy audiences.

This summer, we surveyed both OMBW cohorts to understand what factors help or hinder their ability to conduct policy-relevant research. Coupling what they shared with our team’s observations, we learned that implementing engaged learning communities is one of the most effective ways that research institutions can support academics translating their research for a policy audience. 

Academics would benefit from more support to make their research policy relevant

Since the OMBW Research Partnership’s inception in January 2022, we’ve observed that academic training doesn’t necessarily prioritize or reward researchers for publishing their work in nonacademic journals or publications, leading them to miss out on potential policy impact.

The training to conduct research and write for academic audiences is different from and complementary to the training and skills many practitioners and researchers at social and economic policy organizations develop. For example, many higher education faculty members write for academic journals, but researchers at research and policy organizations often write memos, briefs, and reports designed for policy audiences. That means many well-trained and accomplished researchers haven’t had experience translating their findings for nonacademic audiences.

Engaged learning communities help scholars turn their research into policy action

Our discussions with the OMBW scholars suggest research institutions, funders, and academics can take four steps to better translate research into policy insights and recommendations that advance equity.

1. Engage academics in peer-learning communities with research partners who have well-aligned topical, methodological, and policy expertise. To develop and sustain a supportive, responsive learning community for the OMBW project, we prioritized facilitating connections and establishing mutually collaborative learning spaces. We also facilitated one-on-one partnerships between cohort scholars and Urban researchers, who provided research mentorship to help scholars translate academic research for policy settings. We paired each OMBW scholar with an Urban researcher with relevant subject matter expertise and methodological experience, and the Urban researchers offered feedback and support throughout the research and product development process. To date, our scholars have noted these partnerships as one of the most supportive aspects of the OMBW Research Partnership. 
   
   We also established community learning workshops to allow cohort scholars to learn from one another and allow Urban experts to share feedback and lessons from the field. These sessions focused on strategies for integrating a structural racism approach into the research and writing process and effectively translating data and evidence for policy audiences. Additionally, Urban’s communications team worked with the scholars to create a diverse set of research products, including infographics, briefs, and fact sheets. These sessions and strategies allowed scholars to collaborate with Urban experts, explore different research product types and receive feedback, discuss research aims with their cohort members, and explicitly focus on policy translation and impact.
2. Align research findings with current policy debates, news cycles, and policy contexts. The OMBW scholars have created leading-edge research products with various disciplinary perspectives that inform both research and policy on Black women and the wealth gap. Regardless of a scholar’s discipline, awareness of broader policy issues and debates is important throughout the product development process. Grounding academics’ findings in current contexts for specific audiences helps make the case for policy intervention or action.
3. Provide opportunities for scholars to learn about innovative and effective tools to make research more accessible and easily translated for diverse audiences. Data visualization can help scholars translate and amplify the importance of their research, communicate their stories to new audiences, highlight their key findings, and disseminate their academic insights in digestible formats.
4. Organize convenings that effectively highlight research findings. At our first OMBW Research Partnership convening, the first cohort of scholars amplified their research findings and contributions to the literature related to Black women and the racial wealth gap. We invited members of the media, funders, and key equity practitioners and stakeholders to join the conversation. Following the convening, researchers developed ongoing relationships with federal equity administrators, and OMBW scholars were invited to interview with members of the media and to present their findings to national nonprofits. 
   
   As Taura Taylor, one of the scholars in the first OMBW cohort, said, “My participation [in the OMBW Research Partnership] improved my thoughtfulness of stakeholders and my awareness of alternative modalities to report data. I really appreciated the final presentation with various stakeholders and interested parties.” We plan to hold a second convening in December to feature our second cohort’s research findings.

By engaging scholars in supportive communities, defining their audiences, and effectively disseminating their work in a targeted and accessible manner, the OMBW Research Partnership helped scholars more easily connect their research agendas to policy opportunities and solutions related to the racial wealth gap. Combined, these lessons may be beneficial to organizations looking to replicate similar research partnerships that facilitate evidence-informed policymaking.