Research and Project Aims

Research Objectives

SPARK has three main research objectives:

1) Identify and compare emergent categories of knowledge use in Parliaments.

2) Understand beliefs and values underpinning views of what knowledge in parliaments is for.

3) Evaluate the apparent impact of knowledge use on parliamentary functions.

Read more about these objectives on this page.

1) Types and Patterns

To examine and compare patterns of knowledge use in and by parliaments. In this objective, SPARK will identify what kinds of knowledge (e.g. scientific, experiential, legal/political, local, etc.) are used, by whom, and under what circumstances.

2) Beliefs and Values

To understand how parliaments and parliamentary actors interpret the role of knowledge. In this objective, SPARK looks at how MPs, officials, staff and stakeholders interpret different kinds of knowledge and their authority.

3) Functions and Impacts

To evaluate the impact of knowledge use on parliamentary democracies. In this objective, SPARK examines how parliamentary functions (e.g. law-making, representation, accountability) are affected by different kinds of knowledge.

SPARK.net

A further objective of SPARK is to bring scholars together whose research focuses on knowledge use and parliaments.

Through SPARK, we seek to conduct significant new research about the relationships between parliaments and knowledge. But this project is not the first attempt, nor is it exhaustive in its approach, methods or cases. In fact, there is a range of research that has examined the intersection of parliaments and knowledge. A lot of this has historically been based on small or singular case studies. And most important, the literature has been fragmented in the past, and scholarship hasn’t always been building on one another.

This project therefore seeks to bring like-minded scholars on this topic together, with the aim to:

Learn from one another, disseminate findings and raise the profile of this kind of research;

Drive forward a collective and plural intellectual agenda for studying this topic;

Create networking opportunities for scholars and practitioners to work together; and,

Inform parliamentary practices and improve how parliaments use different types of knowledge.

If you are interested in finding out more and getting involved, please get in touch!