Junior Research Fellow, Homerton College, Cambridge

CSaP-Government Secondee, Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (2015)

I was seconded as a policy adviser to the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) from April through August 2015. I have worked on a project as part of developing the evidence base for the Spending Review.

I have examined the way different countries fund research and innovation, mapped their approaches and drawn out lessons for the UK. This will ensure BIS has a better collective understanding of how different research and innovation systems are organised and where there are opportunities to learn from different approaches. This project has required me to quickly get to grips with a new subject area, familiarise myself with international statistical sources, work with a big network of officers around the world and conduct interviews with senior university figures to gather data and relevant information.

The result is a comprehensive overview of 20 different countries, which is already proving to be an extremely useful source document to BIS both as part of the Spending Review and to inform future policy debates around research and innovation systems. As a follow up activity, I was invited to present my work at the Global Science and Innovation Forum meeting. I have received a positive response, particularly from the Royal Society and Research Councils.

As working in a Government department is very different to an academic setting, I had to quickly adapt to the pace and need to work collaboratively with others. I made particular effort to ensure the project met the BIS needs. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with policy makers to develop the evidence base for the Spending Review.

I would like to thank the Centre for Science and Policy for organizing this programme for early career researchers. I have gained a good understanding of policy making during my secondment to BIS. Along with my research interests in Engineering, I hope to deepen my understanding of policy making and bridge the existing gap between researchers and policy makers in the long term.