Advisory Board

Libby Hackett

Libby Hackett is the inaugural CEO of the James Martin Institute for Public Policy, a ground-breaking government-university partnership that is transforming how policymakers and research experts work together to develop smart solutions. Libby is an award-winning public policy expert, with over 20 years’ experience of bringing government and universities together to solve complex problems. She has held senior leadership and advisory roles in government, parliament, university peak bodies, think tanks and private sector consultancy in Australia and the UK. Libby read PPE at Oxford and is a visiting fellow in global higher education policy at the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU.

Andy Westwood

Andy Westwood is Professor of Government Practice at the University of Manchester and a Director of the ESRC funded Productivity Institute. He has worked as an expert adviser to the EU, the OECD and the IMF, as well as a specialist adviser to the Select Committees on Economic Affairs and Digital Skills in the House of Lords. He was previously a special adviser in the last Labour Government on Further and Higher Education, Science and Local Government. 

Mike Emmerich

Mike is a Founding Director of Metro Dynamics, which was established in 2015 to add lasting capacity to places, through analysis, strategy, project development, finance and business cases, as well as evaluation and monitoring. Mike leads Metro Dynamics’ work on investment in cities and has built the consultancy’s practice advising major regeneration projects and innovation district development. Prior to establishing Metro Dynamics, Mike was Chief Executive of New Economy Manchester, a renowned centre of excellence delivering policy, strategy and research. Under his leadership, New Economy initiated the Manchester Independent Economic Review, delivering a high-quality evidence base to inform decision makers in Manchester. Alongside Sir Howard Bernstein, Mike was responsible for developing and negotiating the Greater Manchester devolution deals.

Ally McAlpine

Alastair (Ally) McAlpine joined the civil service in 2013 from Police Scotland, where he had worked as an analyst and Performance Manager in the former Central Scotland constabulary.

A graduate of University of Stirling, he has worked in various roles across government, including the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (2016) which won several awards.

In his role as Chief Statistician he is promoting an ethos of improving public service through statistics and data, focussing on the purpose and chasing the value of statistical analysis and readying the community for future technologies to support better outcome for everyone in Scotland.

Claire Archbold

Claire Archbold is a Director in the devolved Northern Ireland Executive Office and has responsibility for development of a NI Strategic Framework on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. She holds an honorary Chair of Practice in Public Law at the Law School at the Queen’s University of Belfast. She was formerly Deputy Departmental Solicitor for Northern Ireland. With a background at the independent Bar and as a socio-legal academic, she joined the NI Civil Service 25 years ago and has also served as Legal Secretary to the Lord Chief Justice and in a range of policy and legal posts focussing on justice, equality and social policy issues

Simon Brindle

Simon is  Director of Continuous Improvement and the Head of the Policy Profession for the Welsh Government. He has held various senior roles in the Welsh Government, including Covid Recovery and Restart and Brexit Strategy. Simon is a senior policy maker with in-depth expertise in social policy, tax and strategic investment, an extensive track record in policy design and coordination, and practical knowledge of large-scale service delivery, corporate governance and leadership. He was formerly Director of Y Lab, a public services innovation laboratory for Wales, and was Corporate Director for Wellbeing in Bridgend County Borough Council on secondment.

Anand Menon

Anand Menon is Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at Kings College London.

Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor is Professor of Social Sciences at Cardiff University and is the Academic Director of the Cardiff University Social Science Research Park (SPARK). Prior to this he was a Co-Director of the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research and Data (WISERD). Chris has published extensively on a wide range of educational and social issues, based on government-funded evaluations to UKRI research council research. He recently established the WISERD Education Data Lab part of Administrative Data Research Wales (ADR-W). Chris helped establish the International Public Policy Observatory during the COVID-19 pandemic and regularly collaborates with researchers across the UK.

Jonathan Breckon

Jonathan is an independent advisor, recently working on research synthesis and communication for the HM Government Open Innovation Team, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology in Westminster, Capabilities in Academic Policy Engagement, and Campbell Collaboration UK and Ireland. Previously he led the Alliance for Useful Evidence at Nesta for nine years, a network championing the smarter use of evidence in government, NGOs and frontline practice. He has advised and worked for six UK What Works Centres and recently co-edited a book The What Works Centres; Lessons and Insights from an Evidence Movement (Bristol: Policy Press, 2023). Jonathan is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Science.

Siobhan Morris

Siobhan Morris is Assistant Director, UCL Grand Challenges, with responsibility for a broad portfolio facilitating impactful cross-disciplinary innovations, collaborations, and cross-sector engagement. An experienced knowledge broker, Siobhan has worked extensively on intersectional inequalities. She is also co-founder of the Structural Inequalities Alliance, a network developing evidence-driven policy consensus on tackling societal inequalities in the UK.

George Dibb

George Dibb leads IPPR’s work on UK economic policy. His interests include industrial strategy; R&D, science, and innovation policy; and sustainability and climate change. He is an experienced media spokesman and contributor having appeared in national and international media including BBC News, Sky News, Channel 4 News, CNBC, Times Radio and Bloomberg, and has written for outlets including the New Statesman and Project Syndicate.

Giulia Cuccato

In my current role in the Government office for Science, I support the Government Chief Scientific Advisor (GCSA) in ensuring the government has access to the best science and evidence advice to inform policies and decisions. Recently I have focussed on improving science and evidence systems in government and on how to promote effective engagement between government and the academic base. I turned my interest to evidence for policy and policy for science after a working as an editor at Nature. I started at Defra as an evidence specialist advising ministers on GMs and genetic improvement.

Steve Martin

Steve is Professor of Public Policy & Management at Cardiff University and the Director of the Wales Centre for Public Policy. He plays a leading role in facilitating IPPO’s engagement with policy makers and policy priorities in Wales. Steve is an expert evidence based policy. He has led more than 50 major policy evaluations, published over 90 articles in leading peer reviewed journals, and served as an adviser to a wide range of government departments, public bodies, parliamentary enquiries and independent reviews – in the UK and internationally.

Dominic Munro

Dominic is the Director for Constitution in the Scottish Government. He is also the head of the Policy Profession for the SG.

Dominic has worked in a wide range of policy areas in the SG. Previous roles include the SG’s Director for Strategy, the director responsible for Scotland’s exit strategy from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Director for Fair Work, Employability and Skills. He has led various divisions in the SG – in housing, communities and justice. He has also led the SG’s central economic team, covering macroeconomic and fiscal analysis, and has worked on the development of Scotland’s international strategy. 

Dominic has also worked in various UKG departments including HM Treasury and the former Department for Trade and Industry. He lives and works in Edinburgh.

Russell Viner

Russell is the Chief Science Advisor (CSA) for the Department for Education in England (since Jan 2023), providing independent science advice within the UK government. He holds a personal chair in adolescent health at University College London. His research focuses on the health of children and young people, from global analyses of social determinants of health to conducting mental health intervention trials in schools and clinical trials in obesity and diabetes. During the COVID-19 pandemic he was a member of SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies) and the WHO Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 in Educational Settings. He was elected President of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health (RCPCH) 2018-21. He was awarded a CBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours List for services to child and adolescent health.

Alan Penn

Biography Coming

Emily Morrison

Biography Coming

Molly Morgan Jones

Biography Coming