This lunch-time meeting series organised by ODI’s Research and Policy in Development (RAPID) programme provided an opportunity for researchers, policy makers and intermediaries in the UK to discuss how and why evidence informs policy. Speakers included politicians, bureaucrats, researchers, NGO activists and practitioners from UK government and non-government organisations. They talked about how the political and institutional context influences development policy makers, what sort of evidence they want and need, how research institutes can manage and use their knowledge more effectively, how NGO campaigns and think tanks achieve policy influence, and what makes a good policy entrepreneur.