The Policy Engagement Team

Guided by the Oxford Policy Engagement Network Steering Group, the Policy Engagement Team works with Divisions and Departments across the University to enhance support for researchers' engagement with local, regional, national and international policymakers. This includes support for related learning and development, sharing of good practice, and brokering new opportunities.

What can the Policy Engagement Team do for you?

The Team facilitates engagement between researchers and local, regional, national and international policymakers, and establishes mechanisms to support research-uptake for the benefit of public policy design, delivery and evaluation.

The Team can provide support in a number of ways, by:

Offering guidance on formal opportunities for policy engagement
Highlighting funding programmes and fellowship schemes for policy engagement
Providing guidance notes and tips for policy engagement
Facilitating engagement with policymakers, where we have the networks
Delivering training programmes for early career researchers and DPhil students
Delivering targeted seminars on skills for effective policy engagement
Facilitating the sharing of experience and learning from policy-engaged academics

If you’d like priority access to these benefits, you can sign up to join the Oxford Policy Engagement Network.

You can also follow the Policy Engagement Team on X (previously Twitter) and on LinkedIn or email the team at [email protected]

Who should I speak to?

Will Pryor

Head of Policy Engagement

Will provides strategic advice and support to the Oxford Policy Engagement Network Steering Group, and works with divisions and departments across the university to enhance support for researchers' engagement with local, regional, national and international policymakers. Prior to joining the team, Will advised government departments and agencies, in and outside the UK, and served in a range of operational, advisory, and programme management roles in the Organization for Security & Co-operation in Europe, as well as the International Crisis Group

[email protected]

Jess Hedge

Oxford Policy Engagement Network (OPEN) Coordinator

Jess is responsible for broadening and deepening membership of OPEN, ensuring members receive regular updates about the latest opportunities for engagement, professional development and funding, and facilitating internal funding calls and awards. Jess fields enquiries from researchers and policymakers, and helps to point them in the right direction with their ideas for engagement. Jess was previously a researcher within the Medical Sciences and Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Divisions where her research focused on the evolution of antimicrobial resistance.

[email protected]

Jose Rojas Alvarado

Learning and Development Manager

José is responsible for the design and delivery of a wide range of learning and development opportunities and resources for OPEN members, as well as other researchers and professional services staff. He brings a diverse background spanning both academia and practice. He previously worked as an associate lecturer teaching International Relations in Higher Education. He also served as a consultant to development agencies in Latin America, gaining first-hand experience in development work.

[email protected]

Naomi Gibson

Public and Policy Engagement Facilitator (Medical Sciences Division)

Naomi works closely with the Medical Sciences Division to support and deliver a number of activities to enable researchers build relationships with public policymakers, with the ultimate aim of improving the use of evidence in policy-making and developing research activities that respond to current policy challenges.

[email protected]

Tom Kelsey

Humanities and Public Policy Officer

Tom supports academics across the Humanities Division in the development of policy-related research. This work ranges from reviewing applications, delivering training, and linking scholars to the right opportunities and institutions. Tom has a PhD and ran the Historians in Residence Scheme at King's College London. He has written policy reports with leading think-tanks such as the Institute for Government and the Resolution Foundation. Before his current post, he was an ESRC Policy and Research Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government.

[email protected]

Noora Kanfash

Social Sciences Public Policy Engagement Facilitator

Noora is responsible for supporting the Social Sciences Division to develop policy engagement activities, offering specialist support to departments and researchers and growing/deepening influence in the policy community. Previously Noora worked in Washington D.C. strengthening federal policies that supported the health of young children, women, and families in the United States. Noora’s career has focused on bridging the gap between public officials and local communities in an effort to advance equitable public policy.

[email protected]

John Styles

Information Systems Lead for Business & Policy Engagement

John helps the specialist Business and Policy Engagement Teams to develop and make use of systems that can assist with identifying, targeting, connecting, tracking and more broadly delivering insights across the spectrum of engagement activities.

[email protected]

Elizabeth Crawford

Research Communications Officer

Liz oversees and supports the development of communications initiatives for OPEN, integrating these with the communications activities of the Social Sciences Division’s Research, Impact & Engagement team in showcasing the work of policy-engaged social sciences researchers. She has previously worked in communications and partnerships management, as well as fundraising and development, in the charity and museums sectors, punctuated by masters studies in the fields of psychology and in war and psychiatry.

[email protected]

Rosaleen Cunningham

Senior Communications Officer

Rosaleen leads on OPEN’s communications activities, delivering strategic content and support across the breadth of the Policy Engagement Team’s work, as well as overseeing OPEN’s web and social media channels. She produces a range of outputs for internal and external audiences in liaison with academic researchers, policy professionals, and colleagues across the University of Oxford. Previously Rosaleen worked in various communications roles across the University and before that spent two decades working in NGO and humanitarian communications.

[email protected]

Umme Hani Imani

Communications and Events Officer

Umme Hani works with Rosaleen and the wider team on developing and delivering OPEN’s communications across print and digital media. She provides dedicated support to the team’s learning and development portfolio, particularly with helping plan and amplify ongoing activities, engagement initiatives, and flagship events. She previously worked with CO2RE (The UK’s Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub), based in the Oxford School of Geography and the Environment and completed her Master’s degree from the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies.

[email protected]

OPEN Steering Group

OPEN is guided by the Oxford Policy Engagement Network Steering Group, which includes representatives of all four Divisions and is chaired by the Academic Champion for Policy Engagement, Jacqui Broadhead.

Members of the Oxford Policy Engagement Network Steering Group

The Policy Engagement Team

What can the Policy Engagement Team do for you?

Who should I speak to?