The Policy Advocacy Lab operates in four basic modes

Fundamental research

A sound research base is a requirement for the rest of the Lab’s work. The Lab conducts research projects funded from a range of sources.

Leading public conversations

The policy advocacy system is a vital part of our plural democracy. The Lab will foster and sustain informed public conversations about the advocacy system and the role of advocacy groups. The Lab will host events designed to facilitate better public understanding of the advocacy landscape and promote debate around critical issues.

Applied research and development of tools for practitioners

The core business of the Lab is basic scholarly research. However, this research base is then further developed to provide tools and techniques to track and evaluate political advocacy.The audiences for these tools obviously include advocacy organizations, yet also policymakers, government officials and other researchers.

Education

The Lab will utilize its research base to inform teaching at the Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and Executive levels. A particular emphasis is recruiting high performing undergraduate and postgraduate students as Research Interns within the Lab, where they will be supervised while performing data collection and analysis for ongoing research projects. Staff at the PAL supervise PhD students on topics related to the broad area of policy advocacy.