Better utilization of research and evidence in development policy and practice can have a dramatic impact. Although evidence clearly matters, there is no systematic understanding of when, how and why evidence informs policy. This lunch-time meeting series 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. This publication provides summaries and full transcripts from each meeting, where speakers talked about the influence of political and institutional context, 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.