The Insight Institute www.scottishinsight.ac.uk is supported by, and a partnership of four universities:  Aberdeen, Dundee,  St Andrews, and Strathclyde.  We aim to increase this to a larger group.

The operating model is to mobilise knowledge through a sustained and collaborative focus on a shared issue or problem.  The Institute does not fund primary research but rather aims, through deploying knowledge in fresh ways, to get greater impact and added value from the research in which society has already invested.   Programmes should draw in multi-discipline and multi-sector perspectives.  There is no prescribed format for a programme but a sequence of 2-4 day workshops over a period of 3-4 months is common with discussion continuing between workshops. In this way, the Institute aims to complement other knowledge exchange mechanisms, including the Scottish Policy Innovation Forum (SPIF) and the Scottish Public Management Network (SPMN).

Programme outputs include: accessible reports for non-academic audiences; new networks and communities of practice; articles in academic publications; and new research collaborations which will in turn inform policy and practice.  Programme organisers have presented thinking from their programmes for the Scottish Parliament (in collaboration with the Futures Forum) and for Scottish Government staff.

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