About
Laura Bea is a current SCDTP funded PhD Student within Politics and International Relations. Their PhD is titled 'Exploring the role of fiction and poetry as forms of evidence within public policy'. This PhD looks at ways in which alternative forms of evidence can be used to inform policy solutions, particularly around Gender-Based Violence (GBV), and integrate diverse knowledges within the policymaking space.
Laura was previously the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion lead at Public Policy Southampton (PPS), the Universities Public Policy Unit that works to bridge the gap between research and policy. Within this role, she led the teams EDI Action Plan (2021-23, 2023-25), and is currently Co-PI of a study investigating EDI strategies within academic policy engagement, informed by lived experiences of knowledge brokers and marginalised academics (forthcoming, 2023).
Laura now works part time as Network Manager for the Universities Policy Engagement Network, currently hosted by UCL, University of York and University of Leeds, a network of over 120+ UK Universities all working toward a stronger evidence-informed policy ecosystem. Within this position, Laura is also co-chair of the UPEN Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Sub-Committee, and co-chair and co-founder of the UPEN Arts and Humanities Policy Engagement Sub-Committee.
Laura has previously written reports on Areas of Research Interest (2023), and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion within academic-policy engagement (2022).