Areas of research interest: joining the dots between government and research at last?

Background: With the aim of making it easier for researchers to produce policy-relevant research, the UK Government now requires all departments and arms-length bodies to publish annually-updated statements of their evidence needs, called ‘Areas of Research Interest’ (ARIs).  We describe how ARIs are produced, and how they are used to support this aim. Aims and objectives: In this paper we offer a description of ARIs and their development by UK governmental departments, and an assessment of how different stakeholders, including academia and funders, have responded to or otherwise used the ARIs. Key conclusions: ARIs are a mechanism for organisations to share their research interests with external audiences in the form of a published document. In addition to this primary aim, they also have a much broader set of uses, including connecting departments with each other and helping intermediaries shape engagement plans. All groups would benefit from more robust evidence to choose effective engagement mechanisms, and more can be done to make the ARIs discoverable and useable. Overall, the ARIs are a useful tool to illuminate, and begin to connect different parts of the research-policy system.