Oxford Policy Pod

Continuing with the mini-series of the Masters of Public Policy public servants, two British council members join the Oxford Policy Pod. James Small Edwards, councillor for the City of Westminster, and Charlie Hicks, councillor for Oxfordshire County join our host, Annelisse Escobar. In this discussion, the council members share their experiences and challenges of youth political participation, in...

The 2022-23 MPP cohort has some amazing people who are going to make a positive impact on the world. This mini-series in the Oxford Policy Pod will introduce you to some of these aspiring and ambitious change-makers. Our host, Chiraag Shah, is joined in this brief episode by Reem AlNuaimi and Maryam AlHashmi - two MPP-ers from the United Arab Emirates. They discuss their personal motivations...

With over a decade of existence, the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford is championing a world that is better led, better served, and better governed through its programs and centers that educate experts in public policy and governance to tackle the world's most pressing issues. In ten years, the institution has grown from a vision to a cutting-edge institution that advance...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gone from science fiction to a critical part of our everyday lives. Governments play the role of regulators but they are also consumers.  How are governments using AI to enhance citizen engagement, decision-making, and better service delivery? How to ensure that public services powered by AI are accessible and beneficial to all citizens?  Our host, Paola...

In this episode of the Oxford Policy pod Co-executive producer Gloria Wawira is in conversation with Mayor Jefferson Koijee from Liberia. They discuss Liberia’s and Monrovia’s preparation to ensure free, fair, and peaceful elections later in 2023 and the successes and challenges in the management of Monrovia. Koijee is the Mayor of Monrovia and the youngest mayor in the history of Liberia.  T...

How is social change advanced? How do leaders build institutions in low-trusting environments? How do we inspire, design, plan, influence, guide, steer and make change in our relationships, our communities, our society, and our planet? These are some of the questions about making change that we navigate in the conversation with Andrew Boraine. Andrew Boraine joins our host, Annelisse Escobar to di...

“The Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in late 2022, is a landmark agreement to guide global action on nature through to 2030. A key target in the framework is to mobilise at least $200 billion per year from public and private sources for biodiversity-related funding. How will we achieve that? Our host, Chiraag Shah, is joined in this episode by Anna Ducros and Andreas Hansen to discuss what...

“You betrayed us. I've just been a donkey my whole life and you told me my child's life would be different [if they went to school]. But now I’ve learned that he hasn't learned anything”. Join us in a thought-provoking conversation with  Lant Pritchett, Visiting Scholar and Research Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government and Research Director of the RISE program (Research on Improving S...

The Vatican and its various bodies are not only heading the Catholic Church but also disseminating thinking and advancing work in different social policy themes. Amongst those, ecology and peacebuilding are discussed here. But how does that work? Our host, Baudouin de Hemptinne, is joined in this episode by Professor Joshtrom Kureethadam and Professor Gerard Powers. Kureethadam is heading the Dica...

One year ago the world held its breath as the Russian armed forces invaded Ukraine. In this particular special episode, we welcome Prof. Andrew Hoskins, whose expertise concerns the impact of digitisation of contemporary warfare on society, and Kanykei Tursunbaeva, a journalist from Ukraine and research associate at the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, who reports directly from Odesa, wher...

Just six months out of office, Colombian president Ivan Duque Marquez shares his personal insights and reflections on his government period. Having led the country during the pandemic he explains how he was able to navigate the political scene and whether or not he would have done anything different in his leadership (7:09). He also inherited the early stages of Colombian recently signed Peace Agr...

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting has been garnering more attention in recent years – especially the environmental component. But how reliable is a reporting method that is not auditable or verifiable? Our host, Benjamin Weiser, is joined by Professor Karthik Ramanna. Professor Karthik Ramanna is a Professor of Business and Public Policy, and Chair of the Master of Public P...

For policymakers and governments, new challenges emerge nowadays to communicate effectively with citizens. The evolution of media channels, trust deficit, misinformation, social dislocation, emotional connection in media content, and nudging are among the long list of changes institutional communication is faced with. Our host, Baudouin de Hemptinne, is joined in this episode by Sean Larkins. Both...

COP27, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, was expected to be the ‘Implementation COP’ that would translate previous commitments and plans for tackling climate change into tangible action. However, the immediate reaction in the aftermath of the conference was that it was marred by organisational issues and ultimately failed to deliver on its promise.   Our host,  Vitor Tomaz,  is joined...

COP27, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, was expected to be the ‘Implementation COP’ that would translate previous commitments into tangible action.  Our host,  Vitor Tomaz ,   is joined in this episode by  Dr Courtney Howard  to discuss her intellectual journey into climate advocacy, how global health advocacy and organisations can also push forward climate goals, and what...

Welcome to Oxford Policy Pod Season 5! The new cohort of the Blavatnik School of Government brings you a new set of episodes. We will be having short conversations with practitioners worldwide to understand today's policymaking challenges.

The recent 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party revealed Xi Jinping’s intention to present to the world an image of a “credible, loveable, and respectable China.” The pursuit of soft power is inseparable from other government initiatives – China spends an estimated $10 billion on initiatives aimed at enhancing its soft power around the globe. Yet, public opinion polling from...

The COVID-19 crisis forced school closures in 188 countries, disrupting the learning process of more than 1.7 billion children, youth, and their families. This had immediate short-term temporary learning loss effects. However, long-term impacts like curbed educational aspirations and disengagement from the school system may be irreversible. This podcast episode deep dives into these adverse conseq...

In September 2015, leaders from around the world gathered in New York at the United Nations General Assembly and committed to an ambitious global agenda, setting forth seventeen “Sustainable Development Goals”, or SDGs, to be achieved by 2030. These goals, if accomplished, would mark incredible feats of human history. Unfortunately, the most recent report from the UN Economic and Social Council sh...

This episode provides an update on the political and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. In August 2021, after the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan after twenty years of military presence, the Taliban took control of the country. Almost one year after the withdrawal, other global events have eclipsed Afghanistan in global media headlines, but the situation on the ground rema...

On the eve of the first round of the 2022 presidential election in Colombia, this episode dives into some of the major political currents affecting the region. Over the past several months, leftist candidates have won the presidencies of Chile, Honduras, and Peru, and former left-wing guerilla Gustavo Petro is leading in the polls in Colombia. This episode explores what is driving these political...

This episode discusses the challenges associated with the transition to a net-zero future in Africa. Presently, more than 600 million people across the continent lack access to electricity, and many African countries are reliant on fossil fuels for economic development. At the same time, Africa only accounts for 2-3% of global carbon emissions. This reality means that the transition to a cleaner e...

This episode discusses the challenges associated with migration and human displacement in the context of climate change, and explores policy responses available to international organisations. Given the complex interactions between climate change, conflict and displacement, many humanitarian agencies and NGOs are only just beginning to come to grips with the implications of climate change on displ...

Have you ever wondered how the disastrous impacts of climate change affect national and global security? How do we, states, and international organizations respond to these and prepare for imminent challenges?   In this first episode of our Earth Month "Climate” series, host Logan Williams and the team at the Climate Change and (In)security Project discuss the intersections of climate ch...

As we close International Women’s Month, this episode discusses the economic challenges and opportunities facing women all over the world. The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic displaced millions of women from the global labour force and unraveled several decades of progress in closing economic gender gaps. Governments around the world will need to prioritize gender-based policymakin...