‘Laying the groundwork for real change’: Graduate students and policymakers collaborate to tackle health inequalities in Oxfordshire
Postgraduate researchers, academics and policymakers in Oxfordshire have come together to share findings and insights from the 2025 Local Policy Lab Fellowship programme, which concluded last month.
The 14 Local Policy Lab Fellows have spent the last three months working on projects in partnership with policy officers from Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council with one common goal: to bridge the gap between academic insights and effective local policymaking in addressing the socio-economic underpinnings of health inequality across Oxfordshire.
Postgraduate researchers, academics and policymakers in Oxfordshire came together for the Local Policy Lab Fellowship Showcase on 10 July 2025. Photo: Fisher Studios
Local Policy Lab Fellow Haron Avgana. Photo: Fisher Studios
Building on last year's pilot programme and integrating Fellows and researchers from both the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, the projects presented by the Fellows were grounded in three Marmot thematic objectives for the County – supporting the early years, creating fair employment, and ensuring a healthy standard of living for all – complementing the Councils’ existing efforts in these priority areas.
Projects ranged from exploring how regional Family Hubs could strengthen family care provision in Oxfordshire, to understanding the factors influencing fair pay and workforce diversity in Oxford City Council, and mapping the funding landscape for community nature projects in the county. Fellows shared their findings, data analysis (and challenges therein), and impact evaluations to an engaged audience of academics, local policymakers and community partners at the Blavatnik School of Government on 10 July.
Professor Alexandar Betts, University of Oxford. Photo: Fisher Studios
Professor Alexander Betts, Pro-Vice Chancellor of External Engagement, Sport, and Community at the University of Oxford, said:
‘It’s wonderful that we can combine the academic assets of Oxford’s two universities and share these with Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council to support evidence-based policymaking in these key areas. These projects, which are guided by real and pressing policy issues, have been co-created between our Fellows, policy mentors and advisors, along with community partners and participants, so that – together – we can improve the quality of policymaking and meaningfully address the socio-economic underpinnings of health inequality in Oxfordshire.’
Local Policy Lab Fellow Savannah Verhage. Photo: Fisher Studios
Following the presentations, Fellows and policy mentors reflected on the experiences of conducting research with councils and community partners compared to an academic context, as well as potential research avenues for future cohorts and the value of the Local Policy Lab in making academic research directly relevant to local policy ‘on the ground’.
Savannah Verhage, one of the Local Policy Lab Fellows, said:
‘In an academic environment you’re often dealing with complex frameworks and huge datasets, which can feel removed from the individuals your research is ultimately about. In contrast, working in the Council context, the data felt much more grounded in the real lives of the people it concerned. It was especially rewarding to feel we were contributing at the policy level – helping to address real-world questions and potentially making a tangible difference for some of these groups.’
Fellows also reflected on key differences between the data infrastructures of academic and policy environments in which Fellows had worked; a learning reflected back by Dr Jon Reid, Senior Lecturer in Child Development, Special Education Needs and Inclusion at Oxford Brookes University and research-advisor on one of the projects. Dr Reid said:
Dr Jon Reid, Oxford Brookes University. Photo: Fisher Studios
‘The Fellows’ projects have not only highlighted powerful implications for local policymaking, but also implications around the critical role of data and its systemic use in addressing some of society’s biggest challenges. Overall, their findings provide powerful advocacy for all our public and community services to be more adversity-aware. I feel honoured to have worked with these Fellows over a very intense few weeks.’
Speaking on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council, Head of Research Dr Foyeke Tolani thanked the Fellows for their ‘energy, insights and commitment’, saying:
Dr Foyeke Tolani, Oxfordshire County Council. Photo: Fisher Studios
‘We hope this experience has inspired you as much as it has inspired us. As your presentations have clearly shown, the Local Policy Lab Fellowship programme is laying the groundwork for real change and opportunity. It shows us what is possible when we work together across sectoral boundaries and is proving to be an important way to achieve our ambitions as a council; prioritising high-quality, people-centred research to ensure Oxfordshire becomes a fairer, greener, healthier county. Let us carry forward this spirit of curiosity, courage and co-producing research that matters.’
Professor Alexander Betts concluded the event by thanking all Fellows, researchers and policy partners involved in this year’s Fellowship – and by looking to the future:
‘Between our universities and councils we can – together – improve evidence-based policymaking in Oxfordshire. To support this, we are growing the work of the Local Policy Lab yet further, appointing three Chief Scientific Advisors who will provide strategic research leadership across our thematic areas over the next three years. Beyond this, we will ensure we build on the Fellows’ insights for future cohorts, affirming that Oxfordshire can be a beacon of progressive, evidence-based policymaking.’
The Showcase, held at Oxfod's Blavatnik School of Government, was attended by researchers, academics, policymakers and community partners from across Oxfordshire. Photo: Fisher studios
LPL Fellows, left to right (top): Benjamin Margetts, Alexi Van Loco, Savannah Verhage, Shannon Kong, Minh Anh Tran, (bottom): Emily Fu, Aruj Khaliq, Joao Marcos Preato Deolindo, and Bea Stevenson. Photo: Fisher Studios
Representatives of the Local Policy Lab partnership (left to right): Noora Kanfash, Mat Hickman, Dr Adam Briggs, Carol McAnally, Aileen Marshall-Brown and Dr Foyeke Tolani
About the Local Policy Lab
The Local Policy Lab is an alliance between the University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, and Oxfordshire County Council, that aims to promote relationships and bridge the gap between research and local policy. As the home to two large universities – the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University – Oxford (and Oxfordshire) can access a wealth of cutting-edge, impact-driven research that could inform solutions to public policy challenges facing the city and county.
The Local Policy Lab aims to:
- connect University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes researchers with County and District Council policymakers, local volunteer and charity organisations, and with communities to support evidence-based public policy in key areas, initially focusing on the socio-economic underpinnings of health inequalities;
- create opportunities for graduate students, supervised by academics and county officers, to work on existing datasets, collect new qualitative data, and undertake impact evaluations.
