This talk is co-hosted by the Oxford Martin School, University College & Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, to celebrate their 20th Anniversary and is a continuation of the Trinity Term Series Science and Populism: from evidence to narrative
The lecture situates understanding people, culture and behaviour at the heart of scientific advances as we take on the complex policy and practice challenges of the 21st Century. It does so by providing background and insight into current changes across the research and innovation landscape with the arrival of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and, through a series of examples, offers an illustration of how social science can shape and contribute to this emerging landscape.
Professor Rubin is particularly interested in hearing from students, post-docs and early career researchers about their views on the future of UK social science and there will be an extended opportunity after her lecture for questions and discussion.
About the speaker
Professor Jennifer Rubin is the Executive Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the largest funder of social science in the UK. Better understanding, measuring and driving improvements in productivity is a current priority for the Council.
Jennifer is also Professor of Public Policy at King’s College London where she was the Director of the Policy Institute at King’s before joining UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). She has spent nearly 30 years building and leading research programmes and Institutes inside and outside academia to address a range of societal challenges spanning justice and home affairs, cross-cutting public health and new funding models for public services. In this capacity she has led cross-national comparative research and been an advisor on several reviews focusing on measurement and improving outcomes, including on serious and organised crime for the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, and on the costs of antimicrobial resistance for the O’Neill Review. She was on the executive team of the not-for-profit policy research institution RAND’s European offices, most recently as Executive Vice President.
Jennifer is currently the UK representative on NATO’s task force on ethnic intolerance in the military and is the Executive lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for UKRI. She has advised the Executive offices of the UK and several other European governments, the US, New Zealand, the European Commission and several large foundations based on findings from her research.
Jennifer was a postdoctoral Visiting Scholar at Harvard following a PhD at the University of Cambridge in social and political sciences and a first class degree in European Politics at Loughborough University.