Policy Impact Lead

Fixed Term (13 months in the first instance)

Full time (37.5 hours/ 1 FTE)

The Policy and Evidence Centre on Modern Slavery and Human Rights is a policy-oriented Centre which was created to produce research, evidence and expert analysis capable of transforming the effectiveness of laws and policies designed to address the great global challenge of modern slavery and human trafficking, taking a human rights-based approach. The Centre, which was originally an initiative of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (“AHRC”), was established in 2019 by the investment of £10m of public funding from UK Research and Innovation, to attempt to bridge the too wide divide between research and policy in this area.

Since then, the Centre has built a reputation for producing high quality and impactful policy-relevant research and expert analysis. In 2024 it received continuation funding from AHRC to support its transition to long term sustainability, and in April 2024 it moved to the University of Oxford, where it is hosted by the Humanities Division and is part of the vision for the new Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, which will open in September 2025. The Centre has ambitious plans to grow and develop its policy-influencing work in adjacent areas of human rights policy, so as to become a permanent feature of the human rights research and policy landscape. The Policy Impact Lead is a crucial role in making this transition.

The Policy Impact Lead is an important leadership role in the Policy and Evidence Centre’s staff structure, with lead responsibility for overseeing and implementing the Centre’s programmatic activity related to policy impact, working closely with the Research Programmes Lead to drive the delivery of an integrated and coherent programme of policy-influencing work. The post-holder also has lead responsibility for oversight and implementation of the Centre’s Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (“MEL”) programme and line managing the Centre’s Policy Impact Manager.

The main duties include maintaining key relationships and engagement of key and senior policymakers and evolving the PEC’s existing policy impact work bringing together researchers and decision-makers. The postholder will develop and lead implementation of a strategy to expand the Centre’s policy impact work to a broader range of actors, both local and international. A key aspect of the role is to develop a strategy and lead a programme of work to increase lived experience expert engagement with the policy impact programme, including with the Centre’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP). You will also act as an Ambassador for the PEC’s work with external audiences, including engagement with media, publishing pieces for the PEC website and external outlets and speaking at events.

You will have experience of policy impact work with a good understanding of the modern slavery or other areas of human rights policy landscape and the ability to engage with policy makers including government departments, parliamentarians, and international bodies.

You will also have the ability to translate complex research into accessible, actionable policy recommendations and produce high-quality policy outputs, such as policy briefs, explainers, and consultation responses. To be successful in this role you will need to be highly organised and possess excellent project and programme management skills.

The postholder will possess strong communication and influencing skills and the ability to engage with senior stakeholders, policymakers, the media and the academic community. The ability to gain the trust and confidence of a wide range of people is essential.

The duties and skills required are described in further detail in the job description.

For your online application, you will be required to upload your curriculum vitae and a supporting statement, setting out how you meet the selection criteria for the post, using examples of your skills and experience. As part of your application you will be asked to provide details of two referees and indicate whether we can contact them now.

For further details, please refer to the 'How to apply' section of the job description. Any further enquires may be directed to [email protected].

The closing date for applications is 12.00 noon on Friday 19th September 2025. Only applications received before this time can be considered.

Shortlisting will take place during the following week and interviews are expected to be held during the week beginning 6th October 2025.

Please quote Vacancy ID 180344 on all correspondence.

Contact Person: Andrea Williams

Contact Email: [email protected]