Policy Fellow and Researcher - Economic Strategy

Location: Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG

Grade and salary:

Grade 7: £39,424 - £47,779 (with discretionary range to £53,483 per annum, dependent on experience)

About the Blavatnik School of Government

Our vision is of a world better led, a world better served and a world better governed. We are a global school committed to improving the quality of government and public policymaking worldwide, through three routes: teaching current and future leaders; generating research with impact; and engaging with governments and practitioners.

About the Role

Reporting to the Blavatnik School of Government’s Heywood Fellow, the Policy Fellow will have responsibility for carrying out an evidence-based UK public policy project. You will be a core part of the Heywood Fellowship team and expected to contribute to a range of outputs and events, including with policymakers and senior researchers.

The Heywood Fellow is a very senior UK civil servant who is supported by the Heywood Foundation - and hosted by the Blavatnik School - to conduct a detailed inquiry into a specific policy issue which has long-term impacts for the UK and/or which has proven stubbornly intractable over time. For 2025-26, the fellow will be Jenny Bates (recently Director General, Economics, Climate and Global Issues at FCDO and whose career has spanned decades working on international and domestic economic policy in HM Treasury, FCO and the Department for Business, as well as stints in Washington DC).

Jenny intends to explore the question of how the UK should navigate the changing global economic order and reshape a new refreshed international economic strategy that confronts the challenges we now face. This will require evidence gathering, new policy thinking, using foresight and strategy techniques and applying economic and social science disciplines to this new context. It is likely to draw in particular on the disciplines of economics and international relations.

About You

You will bring your knowledge and expertise of the field, of key thinkers and researchers and of research approaches and methodologies. In return, you will gain a unique insight into the policy mindset, access to a senior level policy network and be connected to a wider cohort of policy fellows, to enhance your understanding of how research and evidence can impact on policy.

A doctorate in a relevant subject, an interest in the policy-making process, and the ability to manage your own academic research are essential for the role.

Application Process

You will be required to upload a supporting statement, your CV and the details of two referees as part of your online application (via the 'Apply' button above).

The closing date for applications is 12 noon (UK time) on Monday, 10 November 2025.

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