There is growing interest in the use of approaches to public engagement with research that use the arts to facilitate engagement. However, there is a lack of systematic and consolidated learning about how arts-based approaches work in practice and about their effectiveness. To help respond to this gap in the knowledge base, The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute at Cambridge University commissioned RAND Europe to conduct a rapid review of the evidence on the use and effectiveness of arts-based approaches for public engagement with research. The findings of this report are based on a literature review that followed the principles of a rapid evidence assessment, complemented by interviews with six experts in the field of arts-based public engagement. Key findings address what arts-based-engagement looks like in practice, influences on how arts-based engagement unfolds, and impacts and outcomes. [This research was commissioned by The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute (THIS Institute) and arises from a project that was co-funded by the University of Cambridge's Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund. For the accompanying annexes to this report, see ED615911.]