Parliament research and fact sheets

Commissioned research

The Scottish Parliament has a small budget to commission external research, primarily on behalf of committees to support their scrutiny of Bills or inquiry work.

Externally commissioned research can include:

• primary research such as surveys which collect and analyse original data
• secondary research such as literature reviews, or data analysis, which collates, analyses and/or synthesises existing information
• evaluation research which considers the impact and/or effectiveness of policy or legislation.

As well as delivery of a commissioned research report, academics are usually invited to present their findings to the committee which has commissioned the research.

Commissioned research opportunities are advertised in the Scottish Parliament Academic Network newsletter and/or on the ‘Ask Academia’ email distribution list. 

Examples of commissioned research from Session 6

Environmental fiscal measures: learning for case studies and research to create a potential strategic approach

Town centre comparative case studies (1MB, pdf) posted 18 October 2022

Alignment with European Union law (931KB, pdf) posted 18 November 2022

Literature review of international models of social care: lessons for social care delivery, sustainability and funding in Scotland (796KB, pdf) posted 10 May 2023

Evaluation of the work undertaken by the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee (135KB, pdf) posted 12 September 2023

Additional costs of disability in Scotland: Understanding the available data and how this relates to personal experiences of disability

Please contact academia@parliament.scot if you require further information.