Over the last fortnight, the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) has welcomed four senior policymakers from the Department for Business and Trade as part of the Policy Fellowship Programme. The programme offered them the opportunity to explore their policy questions and challenges through a bespoke series of meetings with leading University of Bath academics. In total, the policymakers took part in meetings with 16 researchers based at the University.

Duncan Adams (Deputy Director, LITE, and Continuous Improvement, Export Control Joint Unit) and Paul Myers (Continuous Improvement Lead) connected with academics from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Management.

Fergus Harradence (Deputy Director, Infrastructure, Construction and Rail) met with colleagues from the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering and the IPR. He visited as part of the CSaP affiliation.

Tony Thomas (Deputy Director, Product Safety Policy), who also visited as part of the CSaP affiliation, met researchers from the IPR and the Departments of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Economics, Mechanical Engineering, Politics, Languages and International Studies, and Psychology.

Amy Thompson, Head of Policy Programmes and Communications at the IPR, said: “We were delighted to welcome senior policymakers from the Department for Business and Trade, to hear directly from them about their roles and policy challenges and to connect them with our academic experts on a range of topics. It has been wonderful to foster University of Bath research to play a role in supporting informed policy development for the UK government.”

In addition to the flagship Policy Fellowship Programme, there are specialist policy fellowship streams for Health, Net Zero and AI. For academics at Bath interested in learning more about the programmes, or keen to take part in future meetings, please email Johanna Meyer, Policy Engagement Manager: jpm87@bath.ac.uk