Inaugural Local Policy Fellowship concludes offering fresh insights on local projects

Graduate students, academics and local policy partners convened on 1 July for a showcase event at the Blavatnik School of Government to conclude the inaugural Local Policy Fellowship Programme. 

The programme is part of the Local Policy Lab, the new alliance between the University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University and Oxfordshire County Council. It is an opportunity for students and researchers to engage with their local communities and to better understand the public policy context of the city and local environment where they live.   

At the event's core were presentations from the 19 local policy fellows – the graduate students who have been working on local policy research projects with officers and policymakers from Oxfordshire County Council over the past few months. 

Dr Adam Briggs, Deputy Director of Public Health at Oxfordshire County Council, said: “It’s so exciting to see the Local Policy Lab Fellowship Programme tackling some of our most pressing policy challenges. Our partnership draws on the talents and knowledge of some of the brightest and best students in our local universities, working with council officers to improve health outcomes for residents and address some of the major threats presented by climate change.”

With projects rooted in local communities and focused on addressing climate and health inequalities in Oxfordshire, the fellows introduced the findings of their scoping reviews, data assessments and impact evaluations to a captive audience of academics, local policymakers and civil society organisations. 

 Topics tackled by the fellows ranged from exploring the opportunities to promote health outcomes offered by growing vegetables in NHS hospital sites, to assessing the potential for mapping the quality of greenspace in Oxfordshire and identifying promising practices for schools’ decarbonisation in the county. 

As well as working in close partnership with the council and partners, each fellow was helped by professional research facilitators and academic mentors from Oxford University. 

Councillor Dr Nathan Ley, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health, Inequalities and Safety, said: “I was delighted to be able to join the showcase event earlier this month. I gained a lot of insight from hearing about the 19 fellows and their research projects, and how their important contributions will help us to influence policy for the future and make Oxfordshire a more equal and fairer county for everyone."

 Alex Betts, Global and Local Engagement Officer at the University of Oxford, said: “The Local Policy Lab Fellowship Programme has shown that challenges like climate and global health that exist all around the world have real local importance too, and starting to tackle them at a local level can truly make a difference in people’s lives.  

“It’s been remarkable to listen to the fellows’ recommendations about carbon credit and offsetting, green space wellbeing labs, public directories for social prescribers and other initiatives that can have impact over time, and the Local Policy Lab is committed to continuing to build while learning from one project cycle to another.” 

The Local Policy Lab will continue to build meaningful and long-lasting connections between academic researchers and policymakers at the local level. The lab is expecting to launch the next cohort of the programme in coordination with Oxford Brookes University in the next academic year.