How does research actually shape policy and when is evidence "good enough" to act on?

In this episode, Salma Abdalla is joined by Dr Kathryn Backholer, Professor of Public Health Policy and co-director of the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE) at Deakin University in Australia. Kathryn’s work focuses on building evidence that decision-makers can use, starting with policy problems that need solving and working backward to generate the right kind of data.

The conversation explores what it takes for research to move from journals into real policy action. Drawing on Kathryn’s work monitoring how gambling, alcohol, and junk food companies target young people online, they examine the tension between rigor and timeliness, the role of well-timed pilot studies, and why waiting for “perfect” evidence can sometimes mean missing critical policy windows.

The episode is anchored in a live policy moment: Australia’s recent decision to delay social media access for people under 16. Kathryn discusses how evidence informed this world-first policy, what it can — and cannot — address, and how her team is now evaluating its effectiveness and unintended consequences.

This episode is a candid look at the research-to-policy pipeline, the trade-offs involved in population-level decision-making, and what public health researchers can learn about designing work that is both rigorous and consequential.

Useful resources:

• Livingstone H. Australia has banned social media for kids under 16. How does it work? BBC News. January 22, 2026. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyp9d3ddqyo
• Backholer K, Pathirana NL. #DigitalYouth. Deakin University; 2024. https://iht.deakin.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/153/2024/06/Digital-Youth-brief-Final-2.pdf

Host: Dr. Salma Abdalla Editors: Catalina Melendez Contreras Marketing: Kinkini Bhaduri Music: Eden Avery / Melting Glass from Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/2fqOXWpHab/

The views and opinions expressed by the guest in this episode do not necessarily reflect those of their institution, the funders, or the podcast team.