Science Policy Experiences

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• Erik Jellyman, Condensed Matter Birmingham
• Friday 26 January 2018, 14:00-15:00
• Physics East 217.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Elizabeth Blackburn.

My RCUK internship, funded by EPSRC , was a 3 month policy internship at the Centre for Science and Policy (CSAP), Cambridge. CSAP is a research and networking group affiliated with the University of Cambridge. Their primary focus is to provide their extensive database of experts and academics to policy fellows and policy makers in order to better inform and develop the policy making process. These policy fellows and policy makers tend to be civil servants but also include those in industries and civil society organisations who need specialist advice and expertise that they would otherwise have difficulty obtaining. Other than having an extensive database of experts and academics in relevant policy areas, CSAP also provides forums for meeting, discussing and working with experts and policy makers in order to develop science-informed policy; this can take the form of policy workshops, presentations, one-to-one meetings and roundtable discussions. CSAP takes an active role in this process with a research element within their organisation that aids in the development of policy. My role as a policy intern involved aiding in event planning for policy workshops, discussions and meetings by liaising with participants and actively preparing venues on the day; this also involved being on-hand at the workshops to organise and take notes on the content of the discussions taking place. I also interviewed policy fellows and workshop participants to gauge their views on the policy-making process as feedback for CSAP and to provide first-hand accounts of the science-informed policy-making process for the CSAP website. I also wrote up reports for the workshops and discussions based off of my notes and the feedback from participants. These reports were sometimes published on the CSAP website while others were for the participants only due to being professional development workshops for civil servants or regarded sensitive subject matters. Finally I also engaged in research for policy development in areas such as the use of urban green space in the Barking and Dagenham area and how these can be developed to promote biodiversity and social benefit, and in the measurement and application issues of key performance indicators in the life sciences and how this leads to ‘gaming’ and unintended consequences. The internship was an excellent experience in a very engaging and welcoming work environment. The CSAP team and the policy fellows were very friendly and interesting people to work with. The work at CSAP gave me a unique insight into the policy making process, with the internship far surpassing my expectations in how much I would be involved directly in the policy making process and meeting and talking with people involved in policy making. I would recommend a policy internship at CSAP for any PhD student in any discipline, not only as experience for a potential career avenue but also to understand how science-informed policy is currently being developed, as it’s a process we are all affected by but rarely know much about.

This talk is part of the Condensed Matter Physics Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Bham Talks
• Cond. Mat. seminar
• Condensed Matter Physics Seminars
• Physics East 217
• What's on in Physics?

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