The IPR is pleased to welcome Keshav Phakey to the team, for a six month sabbatical as part of his second year in the Civil Service Fast Stream. He is the third Fast Streamer to be on placement with the IPR.

His previous postings have been with BEIS as a Policy Advisor working on securing international investment and partnerships to develop the UKs driverless cars sector, as well as a corporate role in the MoJ Estates Directorate. Prior to the Fast Stream, Keshav completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Southampton (BSc Politics and Economics).

At the IPR, Keshav will conduct an in-depth study mapping Big Data for Policy projects that have/are currently taking place nationwide, with the aim of mapping this activity and developing a method of categorisation for the types of subject data and data analytics being used.

He will also: explore the ease of access to academic resources for Policy writers, with the view to identify these barriers to entry and produce recommendations to improve this information flow; and promote the data analytics and wider academic expertise of the University, particularly in the context of economic scoping for policy.