Technology and Policy Assessment (TPA) has been part of the UKERC research programme since its inception.

The aim of TPA is to conduct systematic evidence reviews, supplemented by primary research and wider stakeholder engagement where required, to address contentious issues in the energy policy arena.

In late 2019 and early 2020 TPA consulted stakeholders, to elicit views regarding potential future topics. Consultation workshops were held in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, and London with stakeholders representing policymakers, industry, academia and NGOs.

Our report below consolidates the outcome from these consultation activities. It identifies the topics and areas of interest that emerged from the consultation workshops, and groups them into major topic areas, highlighting the extent of support for each topic area across the consultation.

UKERC TPA Topics Consultation Summary 2019-2020

Our next step is for the UKERC Director and Co-Directors to consider these priority areas, together with any advice from the UKERC Advisory Board and decide which topics should be taken forward. These projects may cut across areas if this is considered the most effective way of formulating tractable, policy-relevant research questions. Projects may also incorporate elements of topics which were of interest amongst stakeholders but did not make it into the top priorities lists.

It should be noted that the consultation activities were undertaken prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, and aspects of this may be incorporated into future projects.

During Phase 3 of UKERC the TPA team developed an approach for rapid evidence reviews, described in the document below.

Technology & Policy Assessment: Developing a rapid evidence assessment