Third annual Local Policy Lab Fellowship showcases success
Academics, policymakers and community leaders in Oxfordshire came together on 15 July to celebrate the success and share insights and findings from the third Local Policy Lab Fellowship programme.
Supported and introduced by the Local Policy Lab’s Chief Scientific Advisors, the current cohort of 16 Fellows shared their project plans, research and outcomes at a showcase at the Blavatnik School of Government.
The Local Policy Lab, an alliance between Oxfordshire County Council, the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University. It gives students and researchers the chance to work with local communities and understand how policy affects people in Oxfordshire.
Professor Adam Briggs, Deputy Director of Public Health at Oxfordshire County Council and programme policy partner, said: “One of the most rewarding aspects of this programme is seeing students get out of the classroom to embrace the complexity of local government, including the changing landscape of local government reorganisation, and deliver projects that provide really practical ways forward for us to better understand and meet the needs of local communities.
“By exploring questions that matter to people’s everyday lives, from care and support to employment, skills and children’s early years, the fellows are helping us build stronger evidence for decisions that can make a real difference to people across Oxfordshire.”
Aileen Marshall-Brown, Head of Engagement for the Social Sciences Division, University of Oxford, said: “For the fellows, this is an opportunity to apply their research skills to real policy questions, learn more about how evidence is used in practice, and work across institutional and professional boundaries.”
This year’s research projects brought together knowledge from many areas, including psychology, public policy, education, computing and law, and looked at important local issues such as adult social care, children’s early years, green skills, employment and more:
Measuring What Matters: Identifying Practical Approaches to Evaluating Community Capacity Grants for Grassroot Organisations, by Freya Cole Norton and Ishbel Anderson
Beyond the Front Door: Equity and Experience in Adult Social Care in OCC, Belen Tomic Perez and Ruben Moss-Keys
Beyond Counting Conversations: Developing a Meaningful Evaluation Framework for Making Every Contact Count (MECC) in Oxfordshire, by Neha Bhuvarahan and Nandini Bohra
Mapping Green-Skills Provision Across Oxfordshire, by Khin Oo Thazin and Anna Luiza Barbosa
Understanding the Impact of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) on Young People's Engagement in Education, Employment and Training, by Nafisa Salsabil Zaman and Valter Manuel Gomes Neto
Making the Invisible Visible: The Assessment of Harmful Parental Conflict in Children's Services, by Cameron Tan and Charlotte Mason
Towards Meaningful Outcomes for Families, Children & the System: Evaluating the Adult-Facing Practitioner Role in Domestic Abuse Interventions, by Raquel de Almeida Lima and Otilia Rose-Marie Meden
Best Start in Life – Good Levels of Development in Oxfordshire, by Pippa Naegeli-Evans and Yasmin Arnould
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