Universities are under increasing pressure to demonstrate how their research serves the public. This project is related to a growing concern that research institutions focus primarily on academic interests and not enough on addressing the needs of communities and larger public interests.

Currently, scientific research often takes more than a decade before it is used by policymakers in decision making. While some universities and funders have begun to explore potential changes to the research process to better focus on addressing the needs of communities, there is still a need to explore how academic institutions translate existing knowledge for public policymakers.

With this study, we will explore how leaders at public universities and research-funding organizations view the challenges and opportunities of getting research evidence into the hands of policymakers. We will employ qualitative research methods, including conducting interviews with these leaders to:

• understand how these decision-makers perceive current efforts to share research for social impact and what they see as obstacles in the process,
• expand knowledge about the role universities play in using research to benefit society and support evidence-based policymaking, and
• create a clear framework that can help identify measurable factors related to the challenges and opportunities in engaging with policy.

With our research questions and findings, we aim to improve the public benefit of science by examining how our academies serve public officials and the good of the public.