CSaP Policy Fellowship Programme

My visit to Southampton was really stimulating. It was fantastic, in the course of a single day, to speak to experts from several different parts of the university, including public health, political science, law, geography and risk management. I came away with a number of fresh ideas related to work carried out by my team.

Our visit to Southampton proved to be really valuable for our work- both directly in terms of raising awareness of relevant evidence in our policy areas, and indirectly in terms of ‘bigger picture’ considerations within a complex policy landscape. We very much appreciated the care that had gone into pairing us with experts in different fields who gave fascinating perspectives from their respective professional specialisms. We brought this newfound knowledge and thinking back into the department, and have already made use of the academic network since.

A thought provoking day in Southampton, thinking about very familiar subjects from an informed but entirely different point of view. It’s a bit like wearing a new pair of glasses.

I really enjoyed my visit to Southampton. It’s great to step away from the day job and have meaningful discussions with experts. My conversations sparked lots of ideas…. and I have already followed up. Visiting Southampton has been my best professional development this year - I highly recommend it!

As Head of the Polar Regions Department in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my work regularly brings me into contact with scientists and researchers. However, the opportunity to participate in the Centre for Science and Policy programme has enabled me to meet and talk to academics from a much broader discipline base. I have learnt much more about how Universities work; about the latest scientific developments and techniques; and I have been challenged to think differently and look at policy development from a different perspective. I had a fantastic 2 days at the University of Southampton in April 2016, and I hope the diverse range of scientists and academics I met were equally able to learn about the policy-making process from me, and to consider the broader impact of their work. I would not hesitate to recommend this programme to other policy-makers, and I thank the University of Southampton once again for organising for me such a rewarding and inspiring programme.

The Southampton fellowship programme was a rare and hugely valuable opportunity to take some time out from demands of the office environment and explore with intellectual rigour some of the longer term, less tangible but critical issues that the space sector will face in the future.

Members of the Centre for Risk Research have found engagement with the University’s Public Policy Unit extremely rewarding. It has helped to put us in touch with key policymakers and practitioners. This has helped us to identify the issues which are of concern to governmental bodies at UK and European level and has given the Centre for Risk Research an important role in shaping future national and international research agendas.