Where did you go and what did you do?
For my PIPS I did a UKRI Policy Internship Placement based at Defra. My main job was to take a systems thinking approach on Defra’s Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP).
The EIP sets out the vision for a quarter-of-a-century action to help natural world regain and retain good health. Because the goals of the EIP are broad and relevant to a lot of teams within Defra, the idea of my project was to understand how all the components of the EIP are influenced by various other elements such as Strategies, Policies, Grants etc. Ultimately, I produced a systems thinking map which linked all the relevant stakeholders within Defra to the EIP Goals and a separate map which linked the indicators from Defra’s Outcome Indicator Framework to each other.
Other than working on these tasks I also got the opportunity to attend Civil Service Live and Natural England Soil Health Conference. I also shadowed someone from the Soil Science team at Defra, attended work-away days for my Directorate, and engaged with various working groups (e.g., Systems Thinking).
What made you want to do that particular PIPS?
I chose to apply for a UKRI Policy Internship Placement because I am interested in Policy and I wanted to gain some more experience in the field. I also thought it would a useful skill even if I eventually stay in academia. I put Defra down as my preferred host and Natural England as my second preference because my background is in ecology and those two hosts offered the best overall with my interests.
What skills have you gained from your PIPS?
I developed project management, policy analysis, and systematic thinking skills. Creating the system thinking maps also required collaboration across various teams which led to further developing my networking, reporting and presentation skills.
What has been the impact (or likely future impact) of your PIPS?
I shared the maps that I created with my team and particular I briefed to Research Fellow on them. The idea was that the maps would be tested by these Research Fellow in workshops with Defra civil servants so the links could be confirmed and the maps further improved. Ultimately, the maps would help form future iterations of the EIP.
How would you sum up your PIPS experience?
It was a great experience, professionally I grew a lot and it was nice to take a break from my PhD and live in London for the majority of my time at Defra.
What advice would you give to other PGRs about PIPS?
I would advise to start considering your options early. I would advise also advise to reach out people from your host organisation before committing to anything (even if it is through an official scheme such as the UKRI Policy Internship scheme) in order to get a better idea of what will be expected of you and the skills that you will develop. Finally, bare in mind that 3-months go by fast, so get stuck in the project as soon as possible and enjoy!