Contact: Mukdarut Bangpan

Project team: Mukdarut Bangpan, Dylan Kneale, Kelly Dickson, Carol Vigurs, Rosa Mendizabal-Espinosa

The EPPI Centre is part of the International Public Policy Observatory (IPPO) and is working in collaboration with the Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) at Cardiff University, University of Glasgow, Queen’s University Belfast and International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA), and academic news publisher The Conversation. IPPO aims to mobilise and assess international evidence from across to inform policymakers in the UK. We work with the IPPO team and policymakers to develop rapid evidence review questions. In 2022, IPPO was awarded its second £2.2 million, two-year grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the UK’s largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. ESRC supports independent, high-quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and civil society – including (at any one time) supporting more than 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes. The grant will run from 2023-2024.


Our main work involves producing systematic reviews and other evidence syntheses of social sciences research evidence on COVID-19, including to date:

• A living map of systematic reviews of social sciences research evidence on COVID-19

• A systematic review on online learning in secondary schools

• A systematic review on COVID-19 and population mental health

• A scoping review and systematic review on COVID-19 and social capital

• A living map and rapid evidence review on COVID-19 misinformation

Rapid evidence reviews on mitigating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of closure of educational facilities, for the Department for Education, on:

• Primary and secondary schools

• Further education

• Higher education

• Parents and carers

Rapid evidence reviews on:

• Increasing Access to Childcare for Ethnic Minority and Disadvantaged Communities

• Innovation Districts: a rapid systematic review and synthesis of innovation district studies

• Understanding the impact of economic inactivity interventions for people with poor health and disability and the nature of interventions for older workers

• Basic income experiments in OECD countries

• NHS staff wellbeing: Why investing in organisational and management practices makes business sense

• Volunteering during the pandemic: Which mechanisms enabled groups, communities and agencies to mobilise and why?