Our aim is to inform policy-makers and enhance public life through knowledge transfer and a breadth of world-leading research designed to meet the changing needs of society – locally, nationally and globally.
Brunel Public Policy uses our world-leading research to help inform policy-makers, legislators and regulators. We do this in a variety of ways:
- Identifying best practice based on world-leading Brunel research to inform debates and policy projects at various levels of government, as well as in the third sector and for policy think-tanks
- Promoting the policy implications and applications of our research to overseas governments.
- Actively engaging with select committee enquiries and policy consultation
- Actively engaging with policy-related requests
- Synthesising research to assist with policy scrutiny
- Offering our expertise in data analysis
- Evaluating public opinion using both quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (interviews and focus-groups) technique
Key Staff
Director of Brunel Public Policy
Professor Justin Fisher has extensive experience of working with policy-makers, legislators, regulators and political parties in the UK and overseas, providing both evidence and advice. Highlights include work with the Council of Europe, the UK Cabinet Office, the UK Ministry of Justice, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the UK Electoral Commission, and various Parliamentary Committees at Westminster and Holyrood, where he has acted as both a witness and as a special advisor. In recent years, he has advised the Electoral Commissions of Ukraine, Kosovo, Albania and Ethiopia, and worked with the governments of Georgia, Poland and the Czech Republic on behalf of the Council of Europe, as well as training young politicians in South-East Europe on behalf of the British Council.
Manager of Brunel Public Policy
Dr Rosanna Smith is responsible for developing and leading on the implementation of the support structures for Brunel Public Policy, developing and formalising links with national and international governments, Parliament, local authorities, and the Third Sector; and growing and managing the support team. She has over 10 years of experience of building and leading the support structures for interdisciplinary research units at UCL, including formalising links with external partners, managing Institute resources, developing strategies for reputation building, making impact, and network building; and managing the transition to a full formal department. Prior to this, she has 10 years of experience in earth science research, with expertise in physical volcanology and a placement in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology working on disaster warning systems.
Dr Manu Savani is Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, at Brunel's Department of Social and Political Sciences. Manu spent 9 years as an economist in the UK Department for International Development. She has experience working with Government agencies in Asia and Africa, the IMF, World Bank, European Commission and bilateral donor agencies, as well as international NGOs including Oxfam GB. Manu completed her PhD in Political Science at UCL. Her research examines how behavioural biases affect health and political behaviours, using field and survey experiments. She enjoys collaborating with Local Authorities and social enterprises to produce policy-relevant research and support in-house monitoring and evaluation, with a range of methods including randomised trials, surveys and interviews.
Communication and Outreach
Dr Eliza Kania works for the CBASS Research Office and Political Studies Review. She brings over a decade of experience collaborating with reserach institutions, local government units and NGOs across the EU, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She is a political scientist with research interests covering emancipatory social movements, the process of pracarisation of labour, and gendered perspectives on unpaid care labour. Eliza is a co-founder of international research and educational projects like R/evolutions: Global Trends and Regional Issues and the News Literacy hub in CEE. She is passionate about creative forms of research dissemination. Within the BPP Eliza is responsible for communications: branding and website development, content creation, layout design, and enhancing the unit's online presence across multiple platforms.
Dr Victoria Schuppert works in the Graduate School as Senior Researcher Developer (Research Staff).
She plays a key role in the implementation of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and broader research culture agenda, with linkage to the University’s Research Strategy. She manages a range of activities and plans for a diverse community of research staff and research leaders and supports the coordination of the HR Excellence in Research (HREiR) award and the Brunel HREiR Action Plan 2022-24.
Victoria’s own academic background is in Classics, and her research interests centre around ancient political philosophy, Greek comedy and Greek law in Athens in fifth and fourth-century BC. She is advising research staff connected with BPP on impact, knowledge transfer, and how to promote their research to policy makers.
Public Policy Support Intern
Alexandra Galbraith is a Public Policy Support Intern in Brunel Public Policy for 2023-2024. She is supporting the team with identifying public policy engagement opportunities for Brunel staff, identifying the best Brunel staff for the opportunities that arise, keeping policy engagement records, and assisting with organising and publicising our events and training activities. Alex is a 3rd year student in English at Brunel.
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