There has been increasing frustration in the field of public health with the lack of uptake of research evidence, and continued difficulties in getting evidence of effective health interventions into policy and practice. Calls have often been made to ‘bridge the gap’ between researchers and policy makers, yet little work has been done to analyse the political factors influencing research-to-policy process in public health, and the ways national governments may respond to these challenges. We airm to take the next step in improving the use of evidence in health policy by integrating political data and analysis into efforts to build the government institutions and responses which take up research evidence. Specifically we will apply political science theories and methods from the sub-fields of policy analysis, and public administration to achieve this end. These disciplines have not yet been applied to the challenge of getting evidence into policy in health. A programme of work drawing on these fields can take the next step in the evidence-based health policy movement. The work will map out the multiple political challenges to evidence use, while providing recommendations on how to build government structures supportive of evidence informed policy in particular policy contexts. We will review existing literature, construct a conceptual framework linking political insights with national responses, conduct empirical case studies across a range of countries, and develop a tool to improve government responses to the use of evidence in public health. Finally this programme will work to create a center of excellence on the study of evidence and policy in health.