Policy Briefs and Policy Reports

Professor Veena Sriram and Kshitij (KJ) Sharan will lead a 2-hour online workshop on policy briefs and policy reports. We will discuss features of both briefs and reports including audience, structure, content, and mobilization. The workshop will also include differences between briefs, reports, and academic writing. We will also share and collectively analyze illustrative examples of both types of policy writing. The workshop is open to students, faculty, and staff at UBC.

Topics will include:

• Purpose of policy briefs and reports
• Policy reports vs academic articles
• Formatting and design
• Potential pitfalls
• Writing tips

Facilitators:

Veena Sriram is an Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair Tier 2 in Global Health Policy, with a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) and the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) at UBC. Her research sits at the intersection of global health, social science and public policy, and her interests are in understanding power and politics in health policy processes. Dr. Sriram writes regularly on contemporary issues in global health policy in forums such as International Health Policies, and is involved with Health Systems Global and Emerging Voices for Global Health. She has led the design and execution of qualitative research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (Fogarty International Center and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality), the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She has also consulted for the World Health Organization. Her research sits at the intersection of global health, social science and public policy, and her interests are in understanding power and politics in health policy processes.

Kshitij Sharan is the Head of Strategy and Operations at the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions (CSDI) at UBC. He has a Masters in Public Policy and Global Affairs from UBC and a BA in Economics and Political Science from McGill University. His work has ranged across sectors of education, water and sanitation, menstrual hygiene, gender equity, child protection and social entrepreneurship. He has been a founding member of medium to large scale non-profits and social enterprises in India, which has allowed him to engage deeply with decision-makers including ministers, parliamentarians, CEOs and communities. He was a founding member of one of India’s largest digital advocacy organizations, Global Citizen India, which  uses the collective voice of the youth to hold decision-makers accountable and accelerate the achievement of the SDGs. Kshitij has also managed a political campaign during the 2019 Indian National Election and led strategy for an anti-trafficking organization in India. He is a Khemka Fellow, a StartingBloc School of Social Innovation Fellow and a Fellow at the Global Social Change Leadership Institute at the Wagner School of Public Service, New York University. For more, see https://www.linkedin.com/in/kshitij-sharan-229ab9104/.