Research and analysis

DWP Areas of Research Interest 2019

This publication summarises the most important research questions facing the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

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This publication updates the first DWP Areas of Research Interest (ARI), which we published in January 2018.

The ARI aims to raise awareness amongst the external academic and research communities of our analytical priorities so that they can align more of their work with our interests and maximise their impact.

Since publishing our 2018 ARI, we have tried to grow and diversify our external engagement. For example, throughout 2018 we held a series of ARI workshops at universities across the UK. These identified many opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration, which we are taking forward.

The expectation is that departments will regularly revise their ARIs so they remain up to date. Many of DWP’s research priorities in this updated ARI are similar to those we outlined in 2018. This reflects that these are broad, high level and challenging questions, about which it takes time to develop better evidence. However, there are some changes and additions. In particular, there is a new crosscutting methods section. This highlights our intention to use cutting-edge scientific, technical and analytical approaches, as well as the latest developments in more established methodologies, to enhance our evidence base.

In 2019, we will continue to use our ARI to enhance and extend our engagement and collaboration with external research communities.

Published 1 March 2019