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Michaelmas Term (September, October and November 2013) is shaping up to be one of the busiest yet for the Policy Fellowships Programme, with a strong and varied cohort of new Fellows joining from local, regional and national government and from the EC and a steady stream of return visits by existing Fellows, plus the second roundtable meeting of the Policy Leaders Fellowship.
Our first new Fellow of the new academic year will be Jane Kennedy (Research Business Manager for the London Borough of Newham), who will be using her Fellowship to explore the use of evidence-based policy making in local government – both in terms of the wider evidence debate and in particular the move to evaluation in social sciences. Later in the term we'll also be welcoming our first Fellow from the Greater London Authority, Mark Kleinman (Director, Economic and Business Policy), whose questions relate to science and technology (including big data, smart cities, and 3D printing) as a driver of the economy; the development of tech clusters; and universities as knowledge economy agents.
Similar questions will be on the agenda from a central government perspective when one of our HM Treasury Fellows, Ciarán Hayes (Head of the Higher Education, Science and Innovation Branch) makes a return visit in October to discuss technology and innovation strategy and the future of technology transfer and commercialisation. Two more Treasury Fellows will visit for the first time later in the term - Peter Parker, (Senior Policy Adviser, Financial Services), who will explore questions related to European financial and economic policy, and Harriet Wallace (Deputy Director, Labour Markets and Distributional Analysis) whose interests relate to the affordability of health and social care and the modelling of complex systems, as well as the impact of science and technology on the economy.
Economic growth and innovation will also be the focus for the next of our Cabinet Office Fellows, Philip Sinclair (Senior Policy Advisor) when he joings the Fellowship in October. Related issues around "green growth" and sustainable development will be explored in November by Matthew Quinn (Director, Environment for the Welsh Government's Department for Natural Resources and Food), who also shares areas of interest with Fiona Harrison (Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser at Defra), whose questions focus on biodiversity and ecosystems, and how to frame the debate about the impact of human activity on the state of nature.
We will also be welcoming Fellows from the European Commission (including Anne-Marie Sassen and Fabrizio Sestini) to continue discussions about the internet, society and the economy, and hosting return visits by David Jakubovic of Procter and Gamble, Matt Sanders from the Cabinet Office and Colin Wilson from the Home Office. At the end of term well also look forward to visits by Policy Fellows from BT and Nesta.
Invitations to meet Fellows during their visits will be sent out to members of our network in the coming weeks, but as ever we welcome expressions of interest from researchers who would like to be included in any of the Fellows' schedules.