Connecting communities with curated Collections of policy and research

Do you have easy access to the latest research and policy for your work? APO enables evidence-informed decisions by curating comprehensive Collections on a public policy issue. In this blog, APO Director Brigid van Wanrooy explains how curated Collections shape the APO repository and influence policy.

So much information. So little time. 

Policymakers and practitioners face an overwhelming volume of information. With so many factors impinging on decision-making such as time pressures, lobbying and budget constraints – the real challenge isn’t just accessing research evidence but making sure it’s relevant, credible and timely too. 

“But I’ve got APO,” you might say. Yes, APO keeps you up to date with the latest in policy and research across a broad range of public policy areas. What you may not realise is, APO Editors are making tough decisions every day to select the resources that go into the repository.  

APO Editors navigate a vast and growing information landscape. We use a sourcing list – built up over two decades and continually updated – containing websites, newsletters, media monitors, contributions from the public and more. We are deliberate about sourcing diverse perspectives across the political spectrum – from research institutes, think tanks, open access academic journals, advocacy organisations, the third sector and every level of government.

Last year, we started to record all the publications APO Editors weren’t able to add to the repository – and the results were astounding. Over a publication period of 4 months, we identified nearly 100 policy and research resources each month that were suitable for our public policy repository.

Curated Collections enable evidence-informed decisions

This is why APO offers a curated Collections service – to ensure our partners have all the research evidence they need on the policy issue they are working on. We work with partners to build a comprehensive evidence base to help them navigate complex policy issues with confidence and support evidence-informed policymaking. 

Leveraging our custom infrastructure and 20+ years experience in information management, we build customised digital repositories at a fraction of the cost of creating a new website.

In collaboration with the National Disability Research Partnership, we established the Disability Research Collection to share evidence and knowledge to advance the rights of people with disability through improved policy and practice. In the five years prior to the Collection’s establishment in 2020, we catalogued an average of 69 resources on the subject of disability each year. In the five years since, that number almost doubled to 130. The Collection now contains 1,175 resources and its content is viewed by thousands of users each month. 

For authors and publishers, inclusion in the APO repository and newsletters can mean a shot at real impact. APO disseminates policy and research to 15,000 newsletter subscribers – a majority of them working in policy and service delivery.

Curated Collections are also an effective way for organisations to archive their research outputs – so they remain accessible and usable into the future – and promote them to our policy and practice community. The ARC Centre of Excellence in Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) commissioned APO to create a repository of their research outputs and promote them to our audience. Exposing their influential work to our policy community has led to thousands of views and downloads. Four out of 10 of the most viewed Technology resources last year were from the ADM+S repository. A further 4 ADM+S reports ranked in the top 10 of other subject areas.

So if you want to ensure APO is curating a comprehensive collection of policy and research on a particular policy issue – and especially if you want those resources to be available and accessible into the future – talk to us about a bespoke solution that suits your needs.