Social scientists receive Fellowship funding to deepen partnerships beyond academia
Four social sciences projects at the University of Oxford have collectively been awarded £80,000 to develop ground-breaking new non-academic partnerships across the UK and beyond.
6 February 2025
The Engagement Fellowship scheme - supported by the Social Sciences Division and funded by the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) - enables researchers to develop their engagement skills whilst building meaningful, long-lasting partnerships; bringing valuable research insights to bear on real-world challenges and significantly growing their research impact.
Spanning a variety of disciplines, partnerships and types of knowledge exchange activities, the projects range from exploring responsible AI in a military context, and supporting the development of the NHS digital health check programme, to understanding the effectiveness of alternative delivery models for social programmes in fragile states, and investigating how public procurement can help us to reach net-zero climate targets.
Each collaboration will see either a University of Oxford researcher embedded within their partner organisation for up to six months, or colleagues from those organisations embedded at the University, to facilitate deep and rich exchanges of expertise and ideas. This has substantial benefits to the researchers, partner organisations and their wider communities.
Awarded projects
Dr Carolyn Ten Holter
ANNEXE (Academia-Defence Knowledge Exchange)
Professor Marina Jirotka (Lead Researcher) and Dr Carolyn Ten Holter (Engagement Fellow), Department of Computer Science, partnering with The British Army.
Reflecting on the Fellowship, Dr Carolyn Ten Holter said: 'This engagement will strengthen the links between Defence and academia, helping to map existing relationships focused on knowledge exchange, and ensuring multidisciplinary approaches to challenges.'
Agata Meysner, Climate Action Network Europe
Eduardo Spanó, Instituto Jataí
Bridging the Net Zero Ambition and Implementation Gap through Procurement Policy and Practice
Led by Thom Wetzer, Kaya Axelsson, Emma Lecavalier for the Net Zero Policy and Regulation Hub, Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment, School of Geography and the Environment, partnering with incoming Engagement Fellows, Mr Eduardo Spanó, Instituto Jataí, and Ms Agata Meysner, Climate Action Network Europe.
Engagement Fellow Agata Meysnor said: 'This fellowship provides an invaluable opportunity for a collaboration between academia and civil society, focusing on the role of public procurement in driving systemic transformation.'
Eduardo Spano said of the Fellowship: 'This collaboration between our organisations will make meaningful progress towards our shared ambitions to embed sustainable governance within public procurement processes, advancing Instituto Jataí's mission to transform public procurement into a powerful tool for innovation and sustainable development in Brazil.'
Dr Chrysanthi Papoutsi
Bringing the social back into sociotechnical
Dr Chrysanthi Papoutsi (Lead Researcher) and Dr Jackie van Dael, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, partnering with Kainos.
Dr Chrysanthi Papoutsi said: ‘We are delighted to have the opportunity to contribute social science insights to the development of a major technology programme and work closely with our industry partner Kainos.'
Dr Harry Bregazzi
Social outcomes partnerships in fragile and conflict-affected states: A policy tool for systemic change?
Dr Eleanor Carter (Lead Researcher) and Dr Harry Bregazzi (Engagement Fellow), Government Outcomes Lab, Blavatnik School of Government, partnering with UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Responding to his Fellowship, Dr Harry Bregazzi said: 'I'm thrilled to be a Social Science Engagement Fellow. Our partnership with government will develop research-informed policy resources, and we ultimately hope to help make development programmes in fragile states more effective.'
Find out more
Are you a social scientist interested in knowledge exchange and impact? Visit our Support for Researchers pages.
Do you want to find out more about potential collaboration with social sciences researchers at Oxford? Please contact partnerships@sosci.ox.ac.uk or find out more how to Collaborate with Oxford's Social Sciences.
