Sarah Jasim shares insights from her research on bridging the gap between academic research and policymaking and the future of academic-policy partnerships.
Blog
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London Policy Fellowships
Our policy fellowships aim to foster deeper collaborations, creating lasting policy impacts that benefit all Londoners
Building on previous successes, LRaPP’s Policy Fellowships are designed to deepen relationships between academic researchers, policy professionals and practitioners in London, enhance professional development and foster collaborations across communities. By providing opportunities for immersion in new policy and academic environments, our Policy Fellowships aim to improve ways of working together, deepen collaborations and generate further insights that will contribute to lasting policy impact for the benefit of all Londoners.
Our Policy Fellows are well supported by the LRaPP Executive team and partner organisations to deliver on a range of dynamic projects whilst building a number of transferable skills. Whereas host organisations benefit from the expertise of a fellow to shape policy and/or research development, in addition to accessing new networks. If you are interested in hosting Policy Fellow, either as an academic or policy organisation, please contact Aiysha Qureshi ([email protected]).
Our inaugural policy fellows did a brilliant job, not only identifying the barriers to stronger interaction between the worlds of policy-making and academia, but also providing a clear roadmap to a brighter future, rigorously researched and clearly synthesised. I would like to thank Sarah and Ilias for their huge contribution to the London Research and Policy Partnership: there is a huge opportunity to tap and their work gives us a great foundation to build on
Current and Past Policy Fellows
Sarah is a former Policy Fellow for the London Research and Policy Partnership (LRaPP) and is a Research Fellow in Social Care within the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at LSE. Through her role she supports CPEC’s partnership in the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North Thames (ARC-NT), as the Knowledge Mobilisation lead, a social care capacity-building fellow co-ordinating the regional learning community, and a member of the ARC-NT’s Research Partnership Team.
She is a senior mixed methods researcher with previous experience in complex evaluations in mental health, social care and health services. Her research focuses on knowledge mobilisation, capacity-building and structural inequalities and resident / community engagement in accessible and inclusive ways. Sarah has research skills in statistical methods, qualitative research, mixed methods, realist evaluation, participatory action research, co-design / co-production and knowledge brokerage.
Ilias is a former Policy Fellow at LRaPP. He is an Associate Professor of Engineering Project Management at University College London and Programme Director for the MSc Strategic Management of Projects. His research focuses on design flexibility, project governance, and AI-enabled delivery in large-scale infrastructure projects, and have received substantial research and industry funding and publications in leading operations and engineering management journals. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and have extensive experience teaching and supervising at undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD levels. He has received prestigious awards including best research paper of the year by the Association of Project Management and two policy fellowships sponsored by Research England.
Doménica is a Consultant Policy Fellow with LRaPP working on student engagement and developing strategies to support the talent pipeline and connectivity between early career researcher and policymakers.
Doménica is a Research Associate at the Evidence Development and Incubation Team EDIT. She specialises in quantitative analyses with a focus on experimental and quasi-experimental designs. Her current projects cover homelessness, education, youth unemployment, and gender violence.
Prior to joining King’s, Doménica worked as a researcher for organisations such as the World Bank, the LSE, and the University of Cuenca. She also has experience in strategic planning and is an expert in Ecuadorian politics. She has been interviewed by international media including the BBC, Financial Times, The Times, Al Jazeera, and NPR on matters related to Ecuadorian politics.
Doménica holds a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Cuenca, Ecuador, and a master’s in public administration with a specialty in poverty and inequalities from the London School of Economics.
Nicholas Oyeniyi is a Knowledge Mobilisation Fellow. He was raised in East London and has degrees in BA Modern History and International Relations from the University of Essex and MPhil Development Studies from the University of Cambridge. Professionally, he has experience in community development and tech. The focus of his fellowship is understanding how knowledge is created, shared and implemented amongst three key stakeholders: the council, community organisations and universities in Newham. The ultimate aim of this work is to use these insights to develop more effective community interventions and policies.
Previous Policy Fellowships
Two Policy Fellows, Dr Sarah Jasim (UCL & LSE) and Dr Ilias Krystallis (UCL) were embedded part-time within the City Intelligence Unit at the Greater London Authority, also joining the then newly formed LRaPP Executive Team. The fellowship was initially a 12-month pilot to develop a dedicated long-term match making service to build knowledge networks between London’s policymakers and academic researchers.
Our fellows produced a report highlighting their key findings from surveys and consultations with London policymakers and academic researchers. The aim was to spotlight the working examples of academic-policy partnerships and how LRaPP could evolve in order to better support this ecosystem. Their findings emphasize the importance of better understanding London's policy priorities, a shared language, improved internal cohesion, and the strategic anchoring of knowledge brokerage within organisations with senior management buy-in.
The study also developed a three-stage Transitions framework, offering actionable recommendations for elevating LRaPP's match making service. Progressing from basic ad-hoc services to a structured programme in a well-defined policy area, culminating in a sophisticated stage leveraging the broader academic research-policy partnerships ecosystem, the framework provides a clear roadmap of the steps to take.
We know there could be huge benefits in London’s universities and London government working more closely together but we also know that partnerships between academics and policymakers don’t always gel. We are extremely grateful to CAPE for funding two Policy Fellows, Sarah Jasim and Ilias Krystallis, to help LRaPP understand what researchers and public servants want from each other and how they can best work together. Their research and the highly practical advice will be helpful not just to LRaPP but similar partnerships in other regions.
Jo Fox, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Research and Engagement, University of London
