People-Centred Policy Design

Discover policymaking techniques to bring user voices to policies

To help better understand your users and design policies that deliver greater value, it is essential you are able to listen to and apply user voices to your work.

On this five-week course, developed by the UK Civil Service Policy Profession and Policy Lab, you’ll learn how to use innovative techniques to ensure users are at the centre of your new policies. With this knowledge, you can maximise the impact of your work.

Each method is laid out alongside real-life case studies to help you gain practical skills to apply to your context. By the end, you’ll know how to design policies from the viewpoints of those affected by them.

Gain an understanding of ethnography

An ethnographic film, similar to a documentary, aims to highlight people’s lived experience in their own environment.

On this course, you’ll explore the importance of film ethnography in telling the stories of diverse people and how you can use it to improve your work.

Next, you’ll unpack co-design to ensure your policies follow a collaborative approach. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to minimise risks during policy implementation, develop trust, and build community engagement.

Unpack speculative design and serious games

Speculative design allows you to take into account new perspectives. On the course, you’ll learn how to use speculative design to help better understand your users.

You’ll also discover how game elements can be combined with learning strategies to teach skills and attitudes. This understanding will help you use serious games to improve your policymaking.

Take your next steps in people-centred public policy

With guidance and support from policymakers, you’ll finish the course with the knowledge to help you understand people better, design policies creatively, and deliver greater public value.

This course is designed for policy professionals who are concerned with the design, delivery, and evaluation of policy.

• Introduction
• Course Introduction and Context
• Film ethnography
• What is film ethnography?
• Why film ethnography?
• Getting started with ethnography
• Summary and next steps
• Co-design
• What is co-design
• Why Co-design?
• Getting started with co-design
• Summary and next steps
• Speculative design and serious games
• What are speculative design and serious games?
• Why use speculative design and serious games?
• Getting started with Speculative design and serious games
• Summary and next steps
• What next?
• Reflections on people-centred policy innovation