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The Centre has announced the first group of Policy Fellows to be elected for the coming academic year, together with the dates of their initial visits to Cambridge in October and November 2011.
The Policy Fellowships Programme provides a "pathway to impact" by enabling leading researchers to meet senior civil servants and industry decision-makers, and to explore the implications of research directly with them. The Policy Fellows spend an initial period of five days visiting the University, attending both scheduled events and one-to-one meetings with researchers, organised to reflect their policy interests. During the remainder of their two-year tenure, they return from time to time for further meetings and events, and (if they wish) to give lectures or seminars to appropriate audiences.
In the pilot year of the programme (2010/11), the Centre brought 19 Policy Fellows to Cambridge; in the second year it is proposed to elect up to 30 new Fellows – half of them from UK Government, and the other half from the European Commission, industry, NGOs and other bodies. The new Fellows just announced include:
- 11-12 Oct (returning in Jan): John Dodds (Director of Innovation, Department of Business Innovation and Skills), whose job is to support Ministers in their objective to make Britain one of the most innovative economies in the world, with innovation making a major contribution to growth.
- 12-14 Oct (returning in Nov): Gary Kass (Principal Specialist, Evidence & Analysis Team, Natural England/Defra), whose job is to develop and implement a programme of studies, analyses and engagements to ensure that his organisation's responses to strategic challenges for environmental management are robust.
- 18-20 Oct and 22-23 Nov: Rob Sullivan (Chief Executive of Broadband Delivery UK, DCMS), who leads the government's delivery vehicle for broadband, with the goal of facilitating the roll-out of universal broadband and stimulating private sector investment to deliver the best super-fast broadband network in Europe by 2015.
- 24-28 Oct: Brendan Dick (Managing Director of BT Regions), who is responsible for delivering BT's cross-line-of-business strategy at a regional and local level in mainland UK. His research interests include the impact of high-speed communications networks on the environment (e.g. through substitution for travel); the use of ubiquitous high-speed networks to deliver public services; the impact of the "digital divide" on the economy and social mobility; and policing the digital world.
- 31 Oct - 4 Nov: Helen Bodmer (Head, MRC & Health Research Team, Research Funding Unit, Department of Business Innovation and Skills), whose role includes being the Departmental lead for policy on academic medical research and matters relating to the Medical Research Council and the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research, with high level strategic overview of publicly funded medical research in the UK.
- 7-11 Nov: Chris McFee (Head of Civil Contingencies Team, Government Office for Science), who heads a small team working to ensure that government and agencies make effective use of scientific advice in preparing for natural hazards, emergencies and terrorism; current priority issues include space weather and GPS jamming.
- 14-18 Nov: Luca Martinelli (Policy Officer, Open Data and Public Sector Information, European Commission's Directorate General for Information Society and Media), whose current research interests focus on the policies defined by the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE), the Commission strategy to deliver social and economic benefits through ICT.
The Centre also expects shortly to agree arrangements with the senior advisers and policy makers from 10 Downing Street, HM Treasury and the Ministry of Defence, and is in discussions with potential industrial fellows from the IT, aerospace, automotive, construction and pharmaceutical sectors.
Specific invitations to meet these Fellows will be issued in the coming weeks, but researchers who would like to meet any of them are welcome to email and ask to be included in the schedule.