Evidence review
What is known about a question, how firmly it is known, and where the record runs out.
Policy research for public institutions
We research one decision at a time.
Governments and public institutions commission Numan Policy to study a decision they have to make. A study sets out what the evidence supports, what each option costs, and what is still unresolved.
What we do
Four kinds of study.
Option appraisal
What each course of action would cost, what it commits the institution to, and who carries the risk.
Rule and standard review
What a proposed rule, standard or contract term would require of the people and markets it binds.
Programme review
What a programme already running has produced, and what has to be decided next.
Three formats
Free, subscribed, or commissioned.
- FreeThe public briefsShort studies, one question each, written from public sources. Anyone can download them.
- SubscriptionThe research libraryEvery subject we have taken to full length, and the ones we add next. Institutions subscribe for access.
- CommissionedYour own studyYour question, your jurisdiction, your figures. Confidential, and yours before it is anyone else's.
Library
The full studies.
Subscribing institutions read everything below, and everything added after.
A brief carries the finding. The study carries the working: every source, the comparison across jurisdictions, the costings, and the limits of what the evidence will bear.
The library grows with every completed study, so what it holds this year is not what it holds next.
Digital public infrastructurePublic responsibilities and decision rights in shared digital systems.Subscriber access
Data and the public recordAccess to public records, and their retention and reuse.Subscriber access
Procurement and vendor termsTerms and exit clauses in public technology contracts.Subscriber access
AI oversightControls for public institutions that use or oversee AI.Subscriber access
Public-sector adoptionTesting early AI uses, and deciding whether the evidence supports wider use.Subscriber access
Request library access Subscription terms and pricing are being set.
How we work
How a study runs.
Four stages, and a record at the end that someone else can check.
- 01Scope the decision
Set the question, the legal mandate, and who signs.
- 02Assemble the evidence
Gather the sources, and record where the evidence runs out.
- 03Cost and compare
Put a figure, a risk and an owner against each option.
- 04Hand it over
Deliver the findings, any draft instruments, and the decisions that remain.
Public briefs
The public briefs.
Free to download. No sign-up.
Digital public infrastructure
Digital public infrastructure
Public responsibilities and decision rights in shared digital systems.
Data and the public record
Data and the public record
Public duties when records become data that can travel and combine.
Procurement and vendor terms
Procurement and vendor terms
Contract terms that keep accountability and the ability to change course.
Governing AI in small states
Choices for small states that govern AI.
Download PDF
Adoption before proof
What early AI use can establish before wider adoption.
Download PDFSafety, incidents and redress
Safety, incidents and redress
What an institution owes the public after harm.
About
Every study is written to be checked.
A commissioned study is confidential and carries every source it rests on, so whoever signs the decision can audit the reasoning behind it.
The public briefs are written to the same standard and published for anyone to read. They are how you judge the work before commissioning any of it.
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