Public Policy Institute for Wales

The Public Policy Institute for Wales (PPIW) was an independent policy research institution based in Cardiff, Wales.

It was established in January 2014,[1] and was co-funded by the Economic and Social Research Council[2] and the Welsh Government.[3] Its administrative base was at Cardiff University, Wales. It was a member of the UK’s What Works Network.[4]

The PPIW’s key activities included:

• Stimulating policy-maker demand for evidence by working directly with Ministers to identify their evidence needs and make connections across policy areas.
• Improving the supply of evidence by making policy-maker evidence needs know and generating independent authoritative advice and analysis.
• Supporting interaction between evidence suppliers and policy-makers by developing networks.
• Facilitating knowledge exchange between Wales, the rest of the UK and beyond.

Professor Steve Martin[5] was the Director of the PPIW. The PPIW had an independent Board of Governors,[6] whose role it was to oversee the work of the Institute; safeguarding its independence and ensuring the quality of its work.

In June 2017 the PPIW was awarded £6m[7] by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Welsh Government to establish the Wales Centre for Public Policy[8] (WCPP). The WCPP builds on the work of the PPIW, combining it with a broader approach which involves working with public services and as part of the UK-wide What Works initiative. The PPIW was absorbed into the WCPP in October 2017.