Who’s who in IPPO

Policy Engagement Lead for Scotland

Graeme is the Dean of External Engagement in the College of Social Sciences. He is working with local stakeholders – including from other universities – to ensure that the distinctive nature of devolution in Scotland, and the policy challenges and opportunities, are reflected in the work of IPPO. As a former Senior Civil Servant he understands the benefits (but also the challenges) of developing policy, particularly in uncertain and challenging times.

Principal Investigator

Jo has been the Head of Department at STEaPP since 2018; prior to this, she held roles at the University of Sussex, The Open University and RAND Europe. With a background in policy research and evidence for policy, science and technology policy, international development, health research and innovation policy and capacity building, Jo leads and have oversight of the International Public Policy Observatory.

Evidence Lead, Co-Investigator

David is a Professor of Evidence Informed Policy and Practice and Director of EPPI-Centre at the Institute of Education where he has worked since 2004. David and his team are responsible for the overall management of the production of evidence products, including a living systematic map of the evidence: In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the EPPI-Centre is maintaining an up-to-date map of the current evidence, partitioned into broad domains for easy exploration.

Engagement Lead, Co-Investigator

Formerly the Chief Executive at Nesta for eight years. Prior to this, Geoff worked in the UK Government including as Director of the Government Strategy Unit and Head of Policy in the Prime Minister’s Office. Geoff leads on engagement with demand, brokering and effective communication.

Co-Investigator

Matt is the managing director of The Conversation UK’s services arm. Prior to that, he was The Conversation’s Deputy Editor and a Daily Mail features editor. Matt has oversight of the Editorial Project Manager, and helps to support IPPO’s communication work through The Conversation UK.

Editor

Responsible for commissioning, editing, posting and sharing all content on the IPPO website, as well as liaising with IPPO’s global evidence partners to oversee communication of their global evidence scans. Sarah is employed by IPPO partner The Conversation to ensure the research needs of policymakers are communicated in a clear and engaging way that can be easily translated into actions.

Operations Manager

Ayden is responsible for the oversight of operations and coordinating activities and meetings. Ayden has worked in the higher education sector for 8 years, and most recently was Department Manager at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy in UCL.

Research Fellow

Rachel provides support for IPPO evidence products, in particular helping topic experts to produce evidence briefs and systematic reviews. She gained systematic review experience working on NICE guidelines as well as experience as a qualitative researcher and ethnographer mostly in health and related fields.

Co-Investigator

Carla is an Associate Professor in the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP), UCL and a Research Associate at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory. She is an inter- and transdisciplinary researcher, with interests anchored in sustainable urban systems. Her work with IPPO focuses on city-level policies for COVID-19 and the role of observatories at the science-policy interface.

Policy Engagement Lead for Wales

Chris is Professor of Social Sciences at Cardiff University and is the Academic Director of the Cardiff University Social Science Research Park (SPARK). Prior to this he was a Co-Director of the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD) where he continues to lead the WISERD Education Data Lab.

Policy Engagement Lead for Northern Ireland

Muiris is Senior Lecturer in Politics and Public Administration at Queen’s University Belfast and the IPPO lead for Northern Ireland. His research engages with a variety of themes within and between political science, public sector governance and public policy.  He is a member of the Steering Committee of the European Group for Public Administration, and Director of the QUB MSc in International Public Policy.

Blavatnik School of Government

Toby manages the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker – a team of around a dozen staff and hundreds of volunteers reporting how governments around the world are responding to the pandemic.

Blavatnik School of Government

Dr Thomas Hale’s research explores how we can manage transnational problems effectively and fairly. He seeks to explain how political institutions evolve–or not–to face the challenges raised by globalization and interdependence, with a particular emphasis on environmental, economic, and health issues. He holds a PhD in Politics from Princeton University, a masters degree in Global Politics from the London School of Economics, and an AB in public policy from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. Dr Hale leads the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker.

INGSA

Tatjana Buklijas leads the collaboration between International Network for Government Science and Advice and IPPO, identifying international policy solutions to social problems caused by the pandemic. Tatjana’s background is in social studies, history and philosophy of biomedicine, and she’s Associate Director of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures and Senior Lecturer in Global Studies at The University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Alan is Chief Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Molly is the Director of Policy at The British Academy.

Deborah is Chief Executive of the Birmingham City Council.

Halima is an Affiliated Researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, Cambridge.

Jabeer Butt is Chief Executive of the Race Equality Foundation.

Seán is the Chief Social Work Officer/Deputy Secretary over Social Services Policy Group in the Department of Health in Northern Ireland.

Nicola McEwen is Professor of Territorial Politics and Co-Director of the Centre on Constitutional Change.

Roger Halliday is the Scottish Government’s Chief Statistician.

Annie Gunner Logan is the Chief Executive of Coalition of Care & support Providers in Scotland.

Fozia is the Director of Children and Young People at Children in Need.

Sarah is Chief Executive of the Improvement Service.

Steve is the Director of the Wales Centre for Public Policy and a Professor of Public Policy and Management at Cardiff Business School.

Anand Menon is Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at Kings College London.

Matthew Flinders is Founding Director of the Sir Bernard Crick Centre and Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield. He is also Vice President of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom and Chair of the Universities Policy Engagement Network.

Kathryn Higgins is a Professor of Social Science and Health and Director of the Centre for Evidence and Social Innovation (CESI) at Queen’s University Belfast.