Dr Diana Beech writes in a personal capacity about what it’s like to work in the ‘grey area’ between universities and government.
Over the course of the past decade, you could say I’ve shifted sides a few times.
Having started out as a fresh-faced PhD, then a serial post-doc, I quickly made my way into the world of policy: first by lobbying for improved conditions for researchers at the European level, and then by building up a portfolio of experience in all aspects of the domestic higher education and research agenda – from collecting evidence for a small research consultancy on open access monographs, through to focusing on labour market and skills policy for a major UK trade body.
My career path hasn’t always been simple and in fact, at times, the route I’ve taken has been far from logical. But the skills I acquired on the way ended up taking me to a place where few others get to go – and that’s right into the heart of national policymaking when I worked as Policy Adviser to the last three Ministers of State for Universities and Science.
Read the full post … “Walking the line: life at the interface of universities and policy”