Policy Engagement Fellow - UPEN Programmes

Part time/Fixed term - 2 years

About the Role

As Policy Engagement Fellow, you will play a key role in developing and delivering NTU’s work on place-based academic policy engagement. This role will work across NTU's Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) work, connecting with the wider Place team in Birmingham, Leeds and Teesside, alongside our local partnerships City as Lab at the University of Nottingham and with key local policy stakeholders in the region and beyond. Working closely with NCE and the UPEN Programmes Place Team, you will:

• Successfully develop and deliver our place-based case study for UPEN Programmes
• Monitor and analyse policy developments relevant to place-based engagement.
• Act as a knowledge broker, connecting NTU expertise with policy and civic partners.
• Support research, evaluation, and the creation of outputs for non-academic audiences.
• Develop and sustain partnerships with policy actors and civic organisations.
• Contribute to funding proposals and strategic income generation.
• Evaluate and report on the impact of engagement activities.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the interface of academia, policy, and civic life helping NTU maximise its influence and impact whilst testing innovative approaches to knowledge brokerage. This role will shape our understanding of place-based academic policy engagement and help us test and share new and existing approaches we use locally in Nottingham, across EMCCA and further afield through the UPEN network.

Join NTU and help shape policy engagement that makes a real difference to places and communities.

At Nottingham Trent University, we’re proud to be a university that transforms lives and shapes futures. Through Nottingham Civic Exchange (NCE), we connect academic expertise with civic and policy partners to tackle real-world challenges. We are now seeking a Policy Engagement Fellow to support NTU’s contribution to the University Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) Programmes project, within our Place-based Case Study.

About You

We’re seeking someone with a passion for policy engagement and knowledge exchange. You will have:

• Experience in policy analysis, civic engagement, or knowledge brokerage.
• Have a keen interest in understanding and recording what works.
• A desire to develop and test the connections between research expertise and policy needs.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate complex ideas for diverse audiences.
• Ability to build and maintain partnerships with external stakeholders.
• An understanding of research impact and evaluation methods.
• A proactive approach to developing projects and securing funding.

Interviews; w/c 2nd November

About UPEN and NCE

UPEN is a national network of UK universities working together to improve the way academic research informs public policy. Through collaborative programmes, UPEN strengthens connections between universities and policymakers, ensuring evidence-based decision-making that benefits society.

UPEN Programmes aims to improve the systems and structures that enable academic-policy engagement across the UK. It is funded by Research England from 2025-2028. We are building a coordinated interface to connect the academic and public policy communities. Our goal is to provide dedicated and proactive knowledge mobilisation resource to respond to policy need and build collaboration in academic-policy activities to strengthen coordination across the UK at all levels of policy making.

For any informal queries about the role, please contact Rich Pickford (Head of Nottingham Civic Exchange) at richard.pickford@ntu.ac.uk.

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