About

The York Policy Engine (TYPE) is a cross-faculty initiative, supporting all academic disciplines at the University. 

We are based in the Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Directorate (RIKE) in the Stables building. RIKE is responsible for supporting and developing research, knowledge transfer and impact activities.

To get in contact with us, please email TYPE@york.ac.uk

 

Name About

Anthonia James

Head of the York Policy Engine

Anthonia joined the Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Directorate in October 2022 as Head of The York Policy Engine (TYPE). Her role is to lead the delivery of TYPE, managing the team, its resources and the implementation of its strategy. Prior to that she was Operations Director for several food systems consortiums, including N8 AgriFood, the N8 AgriFood Policy Hub and FixOurFood. Her career spans 25 years of operationalising large portfolios of research, including 17 years at the University of Leeds where she led implementation of DFID funded consortiums in Asia and Africa on communicable diseases and health services delivery. Her expertise lies in operations and in generating impact for change, facilitating the uptake and communications of research, with the aim of influencing policy and practice change.

John Hudson

Academic Director

John Hudson is Academic Director of the York Policy Engine and Professor of Social Policy in the Social Policy Group of the University’s School for Business and Society.  His work focuses on theories of the policy making process and comparative social policy analysis, with specialisms in a range of policy fields and topics including well-being, inequality and poverty and the impacts of public attitudes on social policy.  Recent projects include: a cross-national comparative analysis of the impact of culture on the politics of welfare; analysis of the historical evolution of public attitudes to welfare in the UK; cross-national analyses of inequalities in child well-being and inequalities child related public spending; and, cross-national analysis of the political economy and criminal justice policy. He was formerly Head of Social Policy (2009-14) and Head of Social Policy and Social Work (2017-22) at the University of York and has served on the executive committees of the UK Social Policy Association (SPA), the East Asian Social Policy Research Network (EASP) and the UK Joint University Council for the Applied Social Sciences (JUC). 

Mike Baker CBE

Senior Adviser for External Engagement

Mike joins TYPE having held senior leadership roles in the three largest UK Departments of
State. Most recently he was Chief Operating Officer at the Ministry of Defence. He led
welfare delivery and reform in the Department for Work & Pensions and in Her Majesty’s
Revenue and Customs he was Director for Personal Tax Operations. Mike has deep knowledge and experience of leading Operational Delivery, Transformation and cultural change in large, complex businesses and environments. Mike is passionate about
leadership, coaching others to achieve their full potential, and unlocking previously untapped talent.

Katie Heffron 

Capacity and Policy Engagement Officer 

Katie's role is to 
develop and coordinate TYPE's growing portfolio of training and development opportunitiesincluding  liaising with external partners to facilitate training events and connect external policy training opportunities with the University. She also assists with activity that connects TYPE services with staff and students, to build internal capacity for policy engagement at York.
Prior to this she has worked for a number of years in Business and Project Management for Higher Education. This has included the facilitation of institutional compliance with new government regulatory frameworks and supporting the implementation of major policy changes to New Zealand's secondary education. The York Policy Engine provides a new and exciting challenge in building on York's capacity for effective policy engagement. 

Rebecca Kerr

Y-PERN Policy Research Fellow

Rebecca is a policy research fellow based in the School for Business and Society, but is also embedded in TYPE to deliver the Y-PERN (Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network) project. Her role involves the development of academic, industry and stakeholder engagement to generate impact-led and inclusive economic and social research. Following her PhD in political science, she taught qualitative research methods at UCL and worked industry side with a range of charities, governmental departments and public organisation broadly to deliver public research.

Duncan McKnight

Research Communications Manager (Policy)

Duncan’s role as research communications manager for TYPE is to provide a prominent platform on which researchers at York can amplify their work, helping create pathways for policy impact and influence.
Duncan is also responsible for the Policy Engine’s communication channels including the website, social media, newsletter and support for the production of policy related outputs such as policy briefs and reports.
Prior to joining TYPE, Duncan worked for different local authorities in Scotland and West Yorkshire as a communications and marketing lead, working with a variety of services and partners to deliver campaigns, provide PR support, and develop and manage digital and creative channels.

Dominic Watson

Administrator 

Dominic Watson is Policy Engine Administrator for the York Policy Engine. This includes supporting the team on activities across the portfolio. Having recently moved to York, he joined the university in February 2023. Prior to this his background was in Administration and Management in the Culture sector.

 

Steering Group

 

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Related links

To stay up to date with the York Policy Engine -

Join our mailing list

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn