Translating Research to Inform Policy: How to Facilitate Effective Engagement

There is a need to increase the relevance and use of social work science and research to inform social policy.  This interactive workshop will demystify the policy-making process and build social work faculty and researchers’ capacity to facilitate the translation of social work research so that it is relevant and used in the policy arena.  Participants will increase their understanding of: (1) how the public policy-making process works, in practice, at the U.S. Congressional level; (2) where the opportunities exist for injecting research expertise into this process; and (3) how researchers can frame their expertise in ways that policymakers can understand, respond to and incorporate into public policymaking.