Chief Economist at Nesta

Former Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary of State, DHSC and Senior Visiting Researcher, London School of Economics

Previously, Dr Tim Leunig has served as a Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary of State in the Department of Health and Social Care and was the Director at Public First Economic and Strategy Consultancy.

He was also Chief Scientific Adviser and Chief Analyst at the Department for Education, and economic adviser on housing at the Department for Communities and Local Government. He is also Senior Visiting Researcher at the London School of Economics (on leave from that post for the next two years). As CSA he was responsible for giving advice to ministers and senior officials, ensuring that the department’s policies and decisions are informed by the best scientific evidence, and working with the wider network of chief scientific advisers to address cross-departmental issues.

He holds a PhD in economics, and has written widely on current and historical economic issues. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Royal Statistical Society, and the Royal Society of Arts.