Affiliated Researcher, The Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge

Policy Fellow Alumna, Centre for Science and Policy

Halima Khan has worked as a policymaker in national, regional and local government and at Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation for social good. Halima now works independently with a focus on people-powered approaches to public service innovation, which incorporate the insights of citizens and frontline staff.

Previously Halima was Executive Director for Communities and Skills at the Greater London Authority. She was responsible for adult skills, social policy, civil society, children and young people, and public health during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prior to joining City Hall, Halima was in the leadership team at Nesta where she led work on people powered health, and supported frontline staff in public services to rapidly experiment with new ways of working. Before that Halima was Deputy Director at the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office, providing policy advice to No.10 and Cabinet Office ministers on a range of domestic policy issues. Halima has also worked in local government at Camden Council, focusing on strategy, policy and research, including the Council's citizens' panel.

Halima studied Geography at Oxford University and has an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School, where she was a Knox Fellow. She holds non-executive roles at the Royal Society for Public Health and the Mayday Trust, and is a member of the Public Policy Committee at the British Academy. In 2015, Halima was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Health Sciences by Anglia Ruskin University.

To read about Halima's experience as a Policy Fellow in Cambridge see here.