Great to launch our new book on the use of randomised controlled trials in children's social care last night @schoolforgovt.bsky.social with Dave Westlake, Sarah Taylor, Isabelle Trowler and Vanessa Hirneis!

A full house tonight with @policyatkings.bsky.social, Lord Peter Hain, and Baroness Patricia Scotland to discuss Lord Hain's new book which explores why movements born from ideals of justice often succumb to bad governance and corruption once in power 📺 Watch live: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_4D...

"Research shows that many successful interventions, even when low-cost, fail to scale" In our latest blog, @michael-sanders.bsky.social and Vanessa Hirneis reflect on their experience of scaling up a range of successful interventions over the past 18 months. ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/turning...

18 months ago we embarked on a mission to scale some low cost interventions using our own money - here’s what we’ve learned so far.

EVENT: Using randomised trial to improve children's social care Join us, @schoolforgovt.bsky.social & expert panellists to discuss insights from @michael-sanders.bsky.social & Vanessa Hirneis' new book on developing interventions for vulnerable children and families ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/events/using...

It’s good to see the PM finally listening to Liberal Democrat calls to seize the billions in frozen Russian assets tied up here in the UK to help arm Ukraine. This must now happen rapidly. With our European allies we must use these assets to strengthen Ukraine’s hand and ramp up pressure on Putin.

"Students at King’s College London with similar upbringings will write to disadvantaged teenagers to share their stories and challenge perceptions that university is only for the privileged". The Independent on work led by @michael-sanders.bsky.social ⬇️

I've written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, urging them to join me in condemning Elon Musk's dangerous remarks inciting violence yesterday. As leaders, we must stand together and make clear Musk will face serious consequences for these actions.

Brilliant new colleagues have joined King’s School for Government this year!

The conference follows our event last night with Yuval Feldman, @sanchayanbanerj.bsky.social, @michael-sanders.bsky.social & Elisabeth Costa – "Can the public be trusted?" – exploring why governments rely on coercion and punishment when voluntary cooperation often produces better outcomes

Does creating new ministerial post in "Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister" + cap on numbers of paid ministers mean that we won't be getting a new homelessness minister anytime soon? @samfr.bsky.social @anandmenon.bsky.social @drhannahwhite.bsky.social

As famine deepens and hostages remain in captivity, the Israeli Government expands settlements and escalates its assault on Gaza. I’ve written to the Foreign Secretary urging sanctions, an arms ban and a ban on trade with illegal settlements.

Catch up on our report with @hepi-news.bsky.social, out yesterday, which looks at public misperceptions of higher education ⬇️ 👩‍🎓 The public hugely overestimate how many graduates regret going to university and significantly underestimate the importance of higher education to the UK economy 📈

I for one find it disgraceful that we don’t have an answer on what really happened to Sisko, and this traitor gets a whole movie.

🚨 Closing soon! 🚨 📣 PhD and postdoctoral researchers at @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social: get your applications in for our Parliamentary Research Internship programme by 17 August 📺 Hear from recent interns about this unique opportunity to contribute to the work of peers in the House of Lords ⬇️

In the latest issue of Significance magazine, our @johnnyrunge.bsky.social explores how the general public are using statistics from a variety of (not necessarily reliable) online sources when making big life decisions from baby names to house moves. ➡️ academic.oup.com/jrssig/artic...

Excited to be launching our brand new podcast with an interview with policy heavyweight Tamara Finkelstein!

EVENT: Can the public be trusted? With Yuval Feldman Join us, @yuval-feldman.bsky.social, @michael-sanders.bsky.social, Elisabeth Costa & @sanchayanbanerj.bsky.social to explore how trust-based approaches could help solve major challenges facing governments today ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/events/can-t...

If you're going to use AI to draft your job application...don't. The outputs I'm seeing in job sifts are horribly generic. But if you're going to use AI, don't be an idiot. Don't copy and paste the entire thing from AI, including "ChatGPT said..." - it's a real giveaway.

observer.co.uk/news/busines... <<< Me in @observeruk.bsky.social on why international students are important to UK prosperity and should be in the Industrial Policy.

"the rock solid scientific basis of the work just wasn't there in this case" @michael-sanders.bsky.social on the consequences of working with major behavioural science research that has since been found to be dishonest ➡️ More in the @thetimes.com : www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

Whether you agree with his conclusion or not, it is hard not to be proud to have @calummillerld.bsky.social as the MP in Bicester and Woodstock who will take such time and thought in deliberating over such an important issue, and take the time to explain his reasoning.

Good to see this paper with @homelessnessimpact.bsky.social come out, showing a null result for a light touch wellbeing intervention which has previously shown promise.

"...the lack of long-term follow up, particularly using administrative data, is an example of dollar bills being left on the sidewalk." ✍️ @michael-sanders.bsky.social & @julia-ellingwood.bsky.social on the need to not only focus on assessing the immediate outcomes of policy interventions

🎓 Study with us: Executive education Rooted in pioneering evidence-based research and informed by leading expertise, our executive education programme equips learners to maximise impact professionally. ⬇️ Find out more below

💰 "Every pound spent running a randomised controlled trial is a pound that cannot go into running public services" – hence the need for cost-effectiveness, say @michael-sanders.bsky.social & colleagues. Their new study shows it's possible to run RCTs on a budget and still get valuable insights 📊

"We conduct research on how government works or how it doesn't work... and use that research to either to inform civil service or... form the basis of our education programmes" @michael-sanders.bsky.social speaking to Times Higher Education about the SfG ➡️ timeshighereducation.com/campus/podca...

"We just couldn't resist using the government's tax policy as an excuse to further price gouge our customers" -> seems like charitable activity worthy of tax breaks to me. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This week's podcast: we speak to two academics steeped in #policy expertise, having worked in govt in the UK and US, about getting #research before decision-makers - hear from @michael-sanders.bsky.social of @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social and David Garcia of ASU: ow.ly/wFYx50VSlmp #academicsky

"...we don't see the services, interventions and approaches that are of proven effectiveness being taken up, embedded and sustained at scale. This is implementation failure...It's there in every policy area, and it's profound." Jane Lewis of @cei-global.bsky.social writes for our comment series

"According to @bobbyduffy.bsky.social, an expert on generational differences, [the debate about young people at work] has been helped by a 'massively changed information environment', which enables us to share 'compelling individual case studies – of people having a breakdown about their 9-5 job'"

"the landscape of social policy is littered with ideas that should have worked but ultimately were found not to be (cost-) effective" ✍️ @michael-sanders.bsky.social & Julia Ellingwood on the importance of evidence when designing interventions to reduce recidivism ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/we-have...

Conservative spokesperson thinks catchy slogans are at least sometimes the solution to complex problems.

As @eddavey.libdems.org.uk says here, the leader of the opposition seems to be telling on herself when her criticism of the Lib Dems is that they're basically competent and care about their local communities. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I’ve written about my love for local government, what it can achieve, and (some of) the wonderful people I’ve worked with there for @schoolforgovt.bsky.social @simon14.bsky.social

NEW: Getting the numbers right matters for evidence-based policy 💬 Check out the latest in our comment series, where @michael-sanders.bsky.social & Dimitris Vallis examine the value of rigour and detail when designing trials ➡️ kcl.ac.uk/news/devolut...

“Design a trial that’s too small, and you risk falsely concluding that something that works is ineffective... too big, and you waste public money” 💬 @michael-sanders.bsky.social & Dimitris Vallis in our latest comment piece on the future of evidence-based policy ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/getting...

Read this interview with our director, @michael-sanders.bsky.social, who argues academics need to "be humble" and change their approach to working with the civil service ⬇️

I’ve written about how Spock, not Homer Simpson, helps us understand the human condition medium.com/@michael.san... @casssunstein.bsky.social @karminker.bsky.social @sussumhum.bsky.social

"Performance-related pay might well be a good idea, but the details will be vital" @michael-sanders.bsky.social and @julia-ellingwood.bsky.social reflect on the evidence around performance pay for civil servants in our latest blog ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/perform...

"Every year... thousands of [children turning 18] will go on to experience homelessness, substance abuse, mental health issues" @michael-sanders.bsky.social's inaugural speech as our new Director, calling for greater urgency, pace & evidence in policy-making ➡️ www.youtube.com/live/FjVkcDn...

In our latest blog, @michael-sanders.bsky.social & @julia-ellingwood.bsky.social discuss our new report on rising student mental health difficulties & widening LGBTQ+ disparities. They suggest that universities must do more to provide targeted support. Read more: taso.org.uk/news-blog/tr...

Come join our growing team at the School for Government at King's!

"This is a time for us to stand strong, and stand together, as a commonwealth with common values" 🎉This week we we celebrated the achievements & continuation of the Ben Delo Commonwealth Leadership Programme ➡️ Read @michael-sanders.bsky.social's speech from the event: www.kcl.ac.uk/news/strengt...

Some good news in today's pay data: 2024 delivered the strongest real-terms pay growth over a calendar year in two decades...

Come work with us! We're looking for a Lecturer and Reader + Deputy Director in Public Policy at the International School for Government, during a period of growth for the school as it expands its delivery of courses for the UK civil service ➡️ t.co/V7zsmQpGR9

Yesterday we launched our new book, providing guidance on how and when to run a wide variety of different types of randomised trial in policy. I'm proud that it's now out in the world, and hope it will make it easier for us to have more and better trials in the future! www.kcl.ac.uk/research/des...

Delighted to have worked with leading asexual campaigner @theyasminbenoit.bsky.social on this new research. Our experimental study suggests misconceptions about asexuality may be common, and that asexual people are likely to face greater hostility than other groups www.kcl.ac.uk/news/asexual...

EVENT: Join @michael-sanders.bsky.social for the launch of the Ochre Book – a detailed guide for how government should conduct randomised trials, in all their varieties, across a range of policy areas ⬇️

We're hiring: Research Manager Passionate about using research to drive change in higher education? Experienced in impact evaluation? Join TASO’s Research & Evaluation team. 📅 Deadline for applications: 12 Feb 2025 🔗 More info & apply: taso.org.uk/vacancy/rese...