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February 26, 2021
Today we publish the second annual think tank survey Policy Progress: UK think tanks in 2020. Whereas last year’s survey focused a lot on the overall health of public policy debate in the UK after a few years of political turmoil this survey shows that (unsurprisingly) Covid-19 has dominated the past year for the think tank sector as much as everywhere else. While Covid-19 is listed as the biggest challenge the think tanks faced in 2020 it appears to have had some positive outcomes. In their response to the pandemic (which includes a shift to online events, the pivoting of research programmes and generally responding quickly to new government initiatives) an overwhelming majority believe it has helped to widen their audience and most are planning to keep some of the changes (such as offering events online).
Overall people in the sector seem more positive than 12 months ago. 59% said that felt optimistic about the future of the sector, up from 45% last year so despite unprecedented challenges over the past 12 months it would appear that the sector as a whole is feeling robust. The one main concern going forward seems to be around lack of funding. At the beginning of 2020 41% listed it as one of the main challenges facing the sector over the next year. At the beginning of 2021 this had increased to 67%.
The think tanks surveyed included a mixture of small organisations (with less than 10 staff) through to large international institutions with over 50 employees. Those surveyed work in think tanks ranging from left to right on the political spectrum, produce research on both domestic and international policy and occupy research, communications and operations roles.
Key findings:
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