Imperial Policy Forum launches new Applied UK Policy Influence and Leadership course for academics

The Imperial Policy Forum launched its first two-day Applied UK Policy Influence and Leadership course, equipping senior academics with practical insight and expert-led training to turn world-leading research into more effective policy influence.

Earlier this week, the Imperial Policy Forum hosted its first Applied UK Policy Influence and Leadership course for academics at Imperial, which took place over two days on campus in South Kensington. 

This is the latest offer in our training programme, which equips the Imperial community with the skills, knowledge and confidence to translate their cutting-edge research and technical expertise into evidence that better informs policy.

This course was intended for members of our senior academic community with a degree of previous experience in policy engagement — for example, through consultations with government or participation in advisory committees — and who felt ready to take the next step in their policy influencing journey. The programme was led by Director of the Policy Forum Dr Owen Jackson, a former Senior Civil Servant with broad experience across government, particularly on the role for science and research informing policymaking. Owen was joined by Harriet Wallace, Imperial’s Director of Sustainability and also a former Senior Civil Service with a background in science and environmental policy.

Over the course of two days, participants underwent intensive training on topics including the role of Ministers and civil servants, the real world of policymaking and how to build their own policy engagement plans. Our participants gained direct insight into the inner workings of government and the policymaking process, led by existing and former civil servants, as well as Imperial colleagues with deep expertise in policy engagement.  

Imperial health policy experts Peter Howitt and Dr Richard Pinder taught a module on  the ethics of policy engagement and departmental policy engagement capacity-building, which included insights from Richard’s experiences as a public health academic seconded into government. External speakers Dr Alice Lilly (Associate with the Institute for Government), Dr Daniel Rathbone and Dr Ben Bleasdale (Deputy CEO and Director at the Campaign for Science and Engineering) gave participants an in-depth insight into working as an expert with Parliament, and on the importance of salience and building coalitions to improve your chances of influencing policy.

The evening of the first day saw participants join an intimate leadership panel hosted by Imperial’s Vice President, Amanda Wolthuizen, with Alex Jones, Director General for Growth, Science and International at the Department for Business, Innovation and Science and Trade (DBIST) and Dame Hayaatun Sillem, former CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Alex and Hayaatun were extremely candid on their experience working at the sharp end of policymaking, and gave advice on how to build positive relationships and personal impact. 

The course concluded with an immersive roundtable simulation, where participants were given a briefing containing a scenario where they were asked to advise a minister and their officials to inform a government position.  

Drawing on their previous careers as senior civil servants, Owen and Harriet (very convincingly) alternated roles as the minister and their senior official. Joining them were Kirsty Innes, Director of Imperial’s Centre for AI-Driven Innovation and former Department for Science, Innovation and Technology special advisor, and Professor Sir Robin Grimes, Steele Chair in Energy Materials at Imperial and former Chief Scientific Advisor at both the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, who were asked to roleplay as Special Advisor and Chief Scientific Advisor, respectively. 

The roundtable simulation stress-tested participants’ learning throughout the course, and their ability to handle challenging policy questions under pressure. The simulation also asked participants to practice managing competing expectations and demands from officials and ministers, while balancing their own research interests and priorities. 

Feedback from course attendees has been very positive, and it was excellent to see the progress and development in understanding made by each participant. We look forward to continuing to support participants on their policy influencing journeys, especially as they look to apply their technical expertise on critical policy issues, from AI to quantum to public health and beyond. 

The Forum looks forward to hosting future iterations of the course. If you are an Imperial academic who is interested in taking part in a future iteration, or curious about how the Forum can support with policy engagement work are invited to get in touch at the.forum@imperial.ac.uk. 

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