{"id":234,"date":"2020-07-24T14:14:09","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T13:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/?p=234"},"modified":"2020-07-24T14:14:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T13:14:09","slug":"walking-the-line-life-at-the-interface-of-universities-and-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/2020\/07\/24\/walking-the-line-life-at-the-interface-of-universities-and-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking the line: life at the interface of universities and policy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dr Diana Beech<\/a> writes in a personal capacity about what it\u2019s like to work in the \u2018grey area\u2019 between universities and government<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the\ncourse of the past decade, you could say I\u2019ve shifted sides a few times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> at the European level, and then by building up a portfolio of experience in all aspects of the domestic higher education and research agenda \u2013 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My career path hasn\u2019t always been simple and in fact, at times, the route I\u2019ve 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 \u2013 and that\u2019s right into the heart of national policymaking when I worked as Policy Adviser to the last three Ministers of State for Universities and Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In many ways, being brought in by a minister to advise on policy and help them in their complex ministerial brief is a real privilege. But it also comes with caveats. While you get to sit at the same table as career civil servants and the Downing Street team of the day, there are constant reminders that you are in fact the \u2018outsider\u2019, having been brought in for your expertise or lived experienced in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course,\nwhen it comes to higher education policy in particular, having someone in the\nroom who can provide insight into how academics or university leaders are\nlikely to react to decisions ought to prevent calamitous policy from being made,\nand broker better relations between policymakers and institutions. Yet, raise\ntoo many objections in front of politicos and you\u2019re quickly dubbed as being\npart of the so-called \u201cBlob\u201d or even as having been \u201ccaptured\u201d by the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What people don\u2019t realise, however, is that after doing a job like that, many in the so-called \u201cBlob\u201d no longer consider you as one of their own either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By having\nworked with a Government whose recent actions, like Brexit, many in the\nacademic community oppose, you somehow become tainted. And if moving into a\ngovernment-facing role afterwards, your continued willingness to work with\npolicymakers and see things in the round can even be assumed partisan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s true,\nworking with or in Government changes you. You learn very quickly to be\nconstructive, rather than combative. You realise that showing a willingness to\ncollaborate to achieve a suitable policy solution is more effective than simply\ncriticising policy or, worse still, refusing to engage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with ministers day-in and day-out, you come to see them as humans in a way that the rest of the world does not. So, you naturally become less inclined to demonise and more disposed to empathise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many\nways, crossing the academic and policy divide is like learning to speak another\nlanguage. You don\u2019t really become proficient until you spend time in another\ncountry and learn how to communicate with the locals and appreciate the\ndifferent accents. You may always be conscious you\u2019re the foreigner, and you\nmight not like everything about your new environment, but you pick up an\nunderstanding for the culture and traditions, and you learn how best to live\nand work with your new neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when you eventually go back to your homeland, you\u2019ve found things have changed for you there too: you have a newfound appreciation for how another part of the world works, knowledge of new systems and fresh connections, and you can even see some of the things you could be doing better. Yet, while most people will appreciate your new insights, not everyone around you will \u2018get it\u2019, and the fact you\u2019ve experienced life on the other side may even be interpreted by others as you not necessarily being \u2018one of them\u2019 anymore \u2013 so you end up becoming an outsider on the inside yet again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those of\nus who have chosen to make a career in this middle ground, brokering good\nrelations between universities and government or influencing policy, the unique\nnature of the work can often be isolating (even without the recent lockdown to\nfactor in), so having the support of senior management is key. Otherwise, it\nwould be all too easy for those working in a policy advisory capacity or in\ngovernment relations roles to fall through the cracks and be left to cope with\nthe emotional pressures of the job alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sector networks like this one \u2013 the Lighthouse Group \u2013 can provide another vital lifeline, as they give you a way to meet people in similar roles, with whom you can share experiences not necessarily understood by anyone else around you. Building these informal networks is essential to maintaining good mental health and wellbeing, not just for sharing good practice on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, I\nhope the permeability between careers in academia and government and policy\nwill become more commonplace and, with it, the pressures of the work more\neasily understood by those in more conventional academic or policy-delivery\nroles. But until then, it\u2019s time we work together to put in place the necessary\nsupport structures on both sides of the institutional divide, so that insiders\ndoing valuable work at the interface of policy are no longer left to feel outsiders\nin environments which can clearly benefit from their insights and expertise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Diana Beech writes in a personal capacity about what it\u2019s like to work in the \u2018grey area\u2019 between universities and government. Over the course of the past decade, you could say I\u2019ve shifted sides a few times. Having started out as a fresh-faced PhD, then a serial post-doc, I quickly made my way into … Continue reading “Walking the line: life at the interface of universities and policy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,2,8],"tags":[28,12,29],"class_list":["post-234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-he_general","category-networking","category-policy","category-professional_development","tag-careers","tag-government","tag-networks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions\/237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousepolicygroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}