Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy Internship Opportunities UCL STEaPP is currently seeking four interns to participate in four of our core departmental research projects: Internship 1: Urban Observatories Urban observatories in contemporary urban knowledge systems Internship 2: Urban Science Policy Building a global urban science: UCL-Nature Sustainability Expert Panel on the urban science-policy interface Internship 3: Green Economy Strategies Mainstreaming green economy strategies in industrial policies in Africa: The case of Ethiopia Internship 4: Foresight in Public Policy Tracing the evolution of government foresight and futures thinking Skills and Experience Candidates should have, or be in process of obtaining, a postgraduate degree in a subject area relevant to the internship. Candidates should also have the desire to contribute to (or have gained some experience in) the production of academic peer reviewed outputs. Candidates will be able to operate with confidence at an independent and collaborative level with good interpersonal skills. Each project, in addition, requires its own specific skills and these are outlined below along with further details on the projects themselves. STEaPP interns are expected to participate fully in the department s research community, and are welcome to attend a range of events within STEaPP, which can offer exposure to a range of academics and practitioners working on a variety of issues related to science, technology, engineering and public policy. Applications from current UCL postgraduate and doctoral students are strongly encouraged.
Role Conditions Supervised by: Principal investigators of each project Hours of work: Duration: Salary: Location: Right to work: Equipment: How to apply: Each internship is for up to 2.5 days per week (18.25 hours) undertaken on a flexible basis where possible to accommodate other commitments such as study. March- June 2018 (4 months) 10.20 per hour processed on a monthly basis on receipt of timesheets. In line with UCL policy, the interns will accrue annual leave proportional to the hours worked and are entitled to statutory sick pay. Based principally at STEaPP s offices (Boston House, 36-38 Fitzroy square, London) however, some travel might be required. All appointments are subject to having the right to work in the UK. All appointments must be able to provide their own laptop. Please forward a 2-page CV and a 1-page Cover Letter (please explain how you meet the common and project-specific skills and experience requirements). Applications for single or multiple projects are welcome. Please state clearly in the subject line of the email of your application in which project(s) you are expressing interest. Applications to Laura Pullen via email l.pullen@ucl.ac.uk, deadline 11.59pm Thursday 8 th February 2018. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a (approx. 20 mins) panel interview in February (interviews expected to be held week commencing Monday 26 th Feb 2018). If invited to interview, please ensure you bring the relevant right to work documentation. Projects Summaries of the four projects with further details on the project leads and projectspecific skills required of the interns. 1. Urban Observatories 2. Urban Science Policy 3. Green Economy Strategies 4. Foresight in Public Policy
1. Urban Observatories Urban observatories in contemporary urban knowledge systems Urban observatories can play critical roles in decision-making, providing research and analysis relevant to addressing pressing global urban issues. Observatories are wellpositioned to address the need for reliable, high resolution urban datasets specific to cities and the immediate city-regions within which they operate and to facilitate effective knowledge exchange (UN-Habitat 2016, New Urban Agenda). This internship role builds upon materials generated from the STEaPP research project Shaping informed cities: urban observatories in the New Urban Agenda. This project focused on collating information regarding the way in which urban observatories operate, specifically: how they employ and manage partnership working and which methodologies they use in creating, processing and disseminating their knowledge. This initial phase of research also undertook a detailed ethnographic study of the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), South Africa, to understand their methods, approaches and working practices. This internship project would focus on the creation of two outputs based on prior, and ongoing, work carried out by the project team (Carla Washbourne, Michele Acuto, Joanna Sawkins) and collaborators. It aims to generate pieces appropriate for peer review to elucidate innovative and as yet unpublished findings. These outputs are envisaged as: 1. Urban observatories: a definition - a landscape setting piece, relevant to anyone interested in urban observatories and similar institutional forms in urban knowledge systems 2. Urban observatories: institutional forms in contemporary urban knowledge systems a more specific/applied piece. The focus of this can be determined by the background and interests of the intern, but the intention of the team is that this would be a case study based output, which may or may not encompass a more critical urban studies component. This work builds upon established relationships between UCL STEaPP, the Gaunteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) and UN-Habitat Global Urban Observatory (GUO) and compliments ongoing work around urban decision-making carried out by the UCL City Leadership Lab. See project pages for additional details. Principal Investigator: Dr. Carla-Leanne Washbourne (UCL STEaPP) Collaborators: Prof. Michele Acuto (UCL STEaPP), Joanna Sawkins (UCL STEaPP) Contribute to the development of academic publications Prepare and present findings of research, in other suitable formats, to colleagues and external partners Contribute to project evaluation and the development of further proposals based on the internship topic
2. Urban Science Policy Building a global urban science: UCL-Nature Sustainability Expert Panel on the urban science-policy interface Urban policy and urban science are at a critical juncture. Many policymakers and scientists gathered for a once-in-twenty-years opportunity of the Habitat III summit that launched the UN s New Urban in Quito in October 2016 both reiterated how this momentous occasion was flawed by poor science-policy interfaces. Science, as argued in Nature, is disparate, marginalized and ill-prepared to interact effectively with global policy, whilst others argued that evidence-based policymaking is dysfunctional in many parts of the world. To redress these limits and advance the development of more integrated (crossdisciplinary) and policy-engaged research on cities, Nature Sustainability and the City Leadership Lab at have established a ground-breaking Expert Panel focused on the state of urban research and its science policy nexus, gathering thirty international urban science experts from across a wide spectrum of disciplines. The internship project will support the synthesis and analysis of the large amount of evidence collected since March last year while the overarching aim will be to produce outputs suitable for peer review publication. The 30 Expert Panellists of the UCL-Nature commission have been selected for their international standing as global urban scholars. Principal Investigators: Prof. Michele Acuto (UCL STEaPP), Enora Robin (UCL STEaPP), Joanna Sawkins (UCL STEaPP) Collaborators: Nature Springer, UCL Development Planning Unit, Yale University, University of Cape Town (African Center for Cities), ICSU Work collaboratively with the PIs to define different types of written outputs to promote the Expert Panel s work to different audiences; Prepare and present findings of research activity in written format to members of the Nature Sustainability Expert Panel for review purposes; Contribute to writing up research dissemination pieces for different audiences: research report, policy briefs, academic papers, news articles.
3. Green Economy Strategies Mainstreaming green economy strategies in industrial policies in Africa: The case of Ethiopia An open-minded, creative social scientist/ policy analyst is sought to participate in a project that aims to develop a better understanding of the interaction between emerging industrial policies and green economy strategies in developing countries, with a focus on Ethiopia. This project will build on existing research in greening industrialization in Ethiopia, centred on three key manufacturing clusters (cement, leather and textiles). Acquiring an understanding of the synergies, conflicts, trade-offs and multiplier effects of industrial policies and green economy strategies, the research was able to open a new discussion on pathways to industrial development and the policy roadmaps available to Ethiopia. This project aims to undertake a policy gap analysis, containing a critique of the policies and governance that underpin industrialization in Ethiopia, analysis on the nature and quality of innovation systems, and map the concrete opportunities and constraints faced by three critical industries (cement, leather & textiles) in Ethiopia. The project will utilise existing data and information and undertake further literature reviews to update the state of knowledge, via a peer reviewed publication, in green industrial policies and fill gaps where necessary though key informant interviews. Principal Investigator: Prof. Yacob Mulugetta (UCL STEaPP) Collaborators: Dr Mulu Gebreeyesus (Ethiopian Development Research Institute, Ethiopia) Contribute to the development and analysis of international databases on green industrial policies and strategies, focused on developing countries. Undertake policy document reviews and assessments, stakeholders mapping and key informant interviews, relevant to different industry clusters in Ethiopia. Contribute to writing up research dissemination pieces for different audiences such as policy briefs, but in particular an academic paper. Contribute to finalising existing reports for the research 4. Foresight in public policy Tracing the evolution of government foresight and futures thinking There is an expectation of public administrations to offer clarity about not just the ways by which they aim to affect positive change in the future, but also how they intend to mitigate any undesirable public consequences of any systemic change. This requires an anticipatory capacity within government for the continuous exploration of policy goals and priorities, as well as timely engagement with emerging policy issues and opportunities. In order to embed this type of strategic capacity, different government administrations have adopted different approaches. Some have set up central foresight units and programmes; others have adopted more distributed approaches. Some have historically prioritised large, thematic exercises; in others, shorter smaller project-specific activities are the norm.
What all government foresight models have in common, however, is the presumption that systematic consideration of the long-term future is an important and valuable public exercise to undertake. At STEaPP, we want to unpack that espoused institutionalised foresight value proposition as much as possible - that way we can provide further clarity about what foresight practices are most suited to achieve to meeting different purposes. As each national administration adapts to changing contextual pressures and opportunities and adjusts their foresight practices, we are interested in understanding what drives that change. What are the changing assumptions about the purposes of government foresight? What are the changing beliefs about the suitability of different structures and resourcing strategies? What is the perceived efficacy of historic changes made to national models of policy foresight? Principal investigator: Dr. Ine Steenmans (UCL STEaPP) We are looking for an intern to support this work on tracing the ways by which different models of government foresight have changed in the past and are likely to evolve into the future. You should have an appetite for reading and an interest in learning about the practices of policy development, foresight, futures analysis, strategic thinking, and decision sciences. You will contribute by: Systematically reviewing precedent studies on historic and current models of use of government foresight. Analysing the drivers of change on government foresight models in different administrative contexts. Developing a speculative set of visions of what future government foresight practices could possibly look like. About STEaPP The department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) is an academic unit within the Faculty of Engineering at. For further information, please visit www.ucl.ac.uk/steapp