Joining forces: why we’re excited to be moving into The Evidence Quarter EIF chief executive Dr Jo Casebourne highlights the huge benefits to our work and mission from moving in alongside other What Works centres and evidence-focused organisations. We’ve been a proud member of the government’s What Works Network since we were founded in 2013. We know…

The Evidence Quarter (The EQ) is more than just an office. We want to facilitate the organisations to become greater than the sum of their parts. We regularly host events and seminars from speakers on a variety of topics of interest to our members, and, through our Community Manager, host working groups and roundtables on…

I’ll begin this review with a disclosure. Katherine (Katy) Milkman, the Wharton Professor, Co-Director (with Angela Duckworth) of the Behavior Change for Good Programme, and author of the book I’m about to review, is my hero. I read her papers with enthusiasm, subscribe to her podcast, Choiceology, and when recording my own (abortive) behavioral science…

This piece is part of a series in which Michael Sanders describes the findings of papers that have been languishing without being released, as he publishes them over the next several months. You don’t have to run faster than the bear to get away. You just have to run faster than the guy next to…

This piece is part of a series in which Michael Sanders describes the findings of papers that have been languishing without being released, as he publishes them over the next several months. Fundraising is a hard and often thankless task – often vilified by people who think fundraisers are too aggressive, or that the money…

This piece is part of a series in which Michael Sanders describes the findings of papers that have been languishing without being released, as he publishes them over the next several months. Frodo: I will take it! [All continue to argue] I will take it! [All fall silent] I will take the Ring to Mordor.…

There are very substantial gaps between the attainment of the most and least affluent students, across the developed world. It was for this reason that the Education Endowment Foundation was established in 2011 with a mission to use evidence to reduce the attainment gap. In the interim, they have begun more than 200 randomised controlled…

A few weeks ago, XKCD, a “webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language”, posted a comic showing infection rates over time for a vaccinated cohort compared to a control group. The graph (which is hand-drawn, as is the comic’s style), serves to highlight the message that the vaccines that have been developed so far to…

Ahead of his inauguration on Wednesday, President-Elect Joe Biden has announced his intention to create a $15 minimum wage across America – a substantial move to support the working poor of America. What does a minimum wage do? The answer, of course, is many things. It’s a big intervention into a complex system. Let’s think…

If you ever feel like you’ve not got enough time, that you struggle to prioritise, and that the things you think of as “important but not urgent” never get done, the good news is that you’re not alone – this feeling of time poverty is endemic, and many of us suffer from it.  The field…

This piece is part of a series in which Michael Sanders describes the findings of papers that have been languishing without being released, as he publishes them over the next several months. Have you have eaten a large dessert at a restaurant, as a reward for having been virtuous and foregone a starter? Have you…

This piece is part of a series in which Michael Sanders describes the findings of papers that have been languishing without being released, as he publishes them over the next several months. In some ways, 2020 is the least bad year in history so far for us to experience a global pandemic. As well as…

Tim Harford is one of Britain’s best social scientific communicators. For almost two decades, his books have put into simple terms complex phenomena, and brought otherwise esoteric research in economics, psychology and beyond into the domain of the lay reader. On More or Less, Radio 4’s programme about the statistics around us in everyday life,…

This is the first in a series of short pieces about open science, in which Michael Sanders describes the findings of a series of papers that have been languishing without being released, as he releases them over the next several months. The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke…

Closing the gender pay gap – the difference between average hourly earnings for men and women – is a key priority for those who believe in equality. Although the Equal Pay Act makes it illegal to pay people differently for the same work, the gap persists due to a combination of minor distinctions, discrimination, and…

While eating my breakfast this morning I came across a tweet about working papers, arguing that, effectively, we shouldn’t talk about them.  Working papers, also known as pre-prints, are versions of an academic paper that are released, usually online, and usually for free, by researchers ahead of their publication through peer review. They allow scholars…

Just over a year ago, in May 2019, we wrote a blog on the Alliance for Useful Evidence’s website, arguing for the establishment of an “Evidence Quarter” – a home to organisations that care about evidence based policy, and their fellow travellers. The blog attracted interest – many people were keen to hear more, and…

Earlier this month, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) published the results of a randomised controlled trial evaluating “Project SUCCESS” – a project in which students at FE colleges and their nominated study supporters were sent text messages to try and encourage positive discussions about their maths and English GCSEs, which the students were resitting. We, together with…

As Brexit sucks all the oxygen out of British government, it’s easy to miss an important success story. The UK has set up ten What Works Centres (WWCs) to orchestrate the best evidence for frontline professionals and policymakers. They have flourished since the What Works network was launched in 2013, building on the work of…