Academics from Brunel University of London are again contributing their expertise to government policy through the Open Innovation Team’s Policy Fellowship Programme – now expanded with a record number of fellows for 2025.
25 civil servants from 15 departments across government have been selected for the 2025 programme – up from just nine last year. Of those, 5 have been matched with researchers at Brunel, working together on live policy challenges in areas including machine learning, AI, and biosecurity.
Run by the cross-government Open Innovation Team (OIT), the Policy Fellowship offers part-time mentoring support from academic experts to help civil servants answer a specific policy question over the course of six months. Fellows are matched with mentors from the OIT’s five partner universities: Brunel University of London, the University of Essex, Lancaster University, the University of Surrey and the University of York.
Dr Cigdem Sengul, Reader in Computer Science at Brunel, is supporting a fellow from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on the AI-driven modernisation of the assessment process for Common Health Entry Documents (CHEDs) related to imports. The initiative aims to enhance biosecurity, reduce manual intervention, and ensure data privacy and accountability.
"AI offers significant potential to improve efficiency in public sector operations, but its use must be grounded in robust frameworks for data privacy and accountability," said Dr. Sengul.
Other Brunel academics supporting civil servants under the scheme this year are Dr Lu Gan and Prof Tatiana Kalganova in Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Prof Philip Davies and Dr Kristian Gustafson, in Social and Political Sciences and Brunel Design School’s Prof Marios Angelides.
The OIT was established in 2016 to bring external expertise into policymaking, helping officials across departments engage with leading thinkers, generate ideas and evaluate impact.
“This is a fantastic way for the world-class research at Brunel to plug straight into the policy needs of government,” said Professor Justin Fisher, Director of Brunel Public Policy. “The OIT Fellowship Programme puts academic research at the heart of policymaking and gives our experts the chance to inform real-world decisions. The scheme chimes perfectly with the aim of Brunel Public Policy – to use our world-class research to inform and enhance public life”
This year’s cohort includes civil servants from departments such as the Cabinet Office, the Department for Work and Pensions, and HM Revenue and Customs, working on everything from the impact of AI on trade and national security, to open data policy. Brunel students and early career researchers may also have the opportunity to engage with the fellows and gain insight into how research can shape public policy.
For more information about the Open Innovation Team and its Policy Fellowship Programme, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/open-innovation-team
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