Workshop on the Future of Government

Anandi is Professor of Behavioural Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government. Her research interests lie in the field of development economics, with a particular focus on issues relating to the behavioural economics of poverty and social exclusion, gender issues and the provision of public goods. She is a Research Affiliate at Ideas42, a think tank for behavioural economics at Harvard University, and a Fellow at the Centre for Comparative Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE) at the University of Warwick. Her recent work has been published in leading economics journals and has also been featured in major newspapers such as The New York Times and The Guardian, as well as on the BBC. Professor Mani took part in the World Economic Forum 2017 in Davos and is a member of the Forum’s Global Council on the Future of Behavioural Sciences.

Alice is a Pershing Square Scholar at the University of Oxford, where she is completing the Oxford 1+1 MBA alongside a Master’s in Public Policy. Her work focuses on international development, migration, and the relationship between political incentives, government institutions and long-term policy delivery. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Coalition for Global Prosperity, where she recently published a policy paper examining Giorgia Meloni’s Mattei Plan for Africa and the lessons it offers for the future of UK development policy. Alice previously served as a Special Adviser in the UK Government to two Cabinet ministers across three departments: the Home Secretary (2023–24), the Foreign Secretary (2022–23) and the Health Secretary (2021–22). In these roles, she advised on international development, migration and border security, global health, international crisis response, and wider foreign policy issues. She also oversaw the development and implementation of major government strategies and legislation, including England’s first Women’s Health Strategy and the UK’s International Women and Girls Strategy. In the 2024 UK general election, Alice stood as a parliamentary candidate for Normanton & Hemsworth.

İrem is an Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government and a Fellow of St Antony’s College. Her research focuses on taxation and how government policies can promote productivity and economic growth. Before embarking on her academic career, she worked in management consultancy and as an economist at the World Bank, advising on corporate tax policy, R&D and private sector development. She currently leads the core Economics module for the Master of Public Policy programme at the Blavatnik School and co-chairs the Directors’ Leadership Programme for the UK Civil Service.

Peter is Professor of Global History at the University of Oxford, where he directs the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research and is a Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford. He is also Professor of Silk Roads Studies and a Bye Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge. His work focuses on the history and politics of the Mediterranean, Russia, the Middle East, Persia/Iran, Central Asia, China and beyond, as well as the histories of climate, natural resources and connectivity. He specialises in the history of the Byzantine Empire in the 11th century and in the history of Asia Minor, Russia and the Balkans. His research focuses on medieval Greek literature and rhetoric, and on diplomatic and cultural exchanges between Constantinople and the Islamic world, Western Europe and the principalities of southern Russia.

Helen is Professor of Society and the Internet and a Professorial Fellow at Mansfield College. She is a political scientist specialising in the relationship between digital technology and government, politics and public policy. She is an advocate for the potential of multidisciplinary approaches and computational social science to enhance our understanding of political behaviour and the development of public policy in a digital world. She has published over a hundred books, articles and policy reports in this field, including *Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action* (with Peter John, Scott Hale and Taha Yasseri, 2015); *Paradoxes of Modernisation* (with Perri 6 and Christopher Hood, 2010); *Digital Era Governance* (with Patrick Dunleavy, 2006, 2008); and *The Tools of Government in the Digital Age* (with Christopher Hood, 2007). Since 2018, Helen has been Director of the Public Policy Programme at The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence. The programme works with policy-makers to research and develop ways of using data science and AI to improve policy-making and service provision, foster government innovation and establish an ethical framework for the use of data science in government. The programme comprises over 90 research projects involving 55 researchers across 20 universities, working with over 100 public sector agencies at national, regional, local and international levels of governance.

Ciaran is Professor of Practice in the Management of Public Organisations. Prior to joining the School, Ciaran was the founding Executive Director of the National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ.

Ciaran led a fundamental shift in the UK's approach to cyber security in the second half of the last decade. He successfully advocated for a complete change in approach towards a more interventionist stance, which was adopted by the government in the 2015 National Security Strategy, leading to the creation of the NCSC in 2016 under his leadership. In the same time period, the UK has moved from joint eighth to first place in the International Telecommunications Union's Global Cybersecurity Index and the NCSC model has been widely studied and adopted in countries such as Canada and Australia. The NCSC's approach has been praised for responding quickly to incidents and providing the UK public with clear and rapid advice on how to respond to them, getting previously classified information into the hands of industry so that businesses can defend themselves more effectively, making significant improvements to automated cyber security, such as countering brand spoofing and quickly dismantling malicious sites, and projecting the UK's leadership in cyber security around the world.

Ciaran's work, which led him to be named CB on the 2020 New Year's Honour list, has also been recognised and honoured in the United States and elsewhere around the world.

Professor Woods is the founding Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government and Professor of Global Economic Governance at the University of Oxford. An internationally recognised expert on global governance, her research focuses on international institutions, economic development, globalisation and organisational governance. She is also the founder of Oxford’s Global Economic Governance Programme and co-founder of the Oxford–Princeton Global Leaders Fellowship. Alongside her academic work, Professor Woods has held numerous leadership and advisory roles in international organisations, foundations and corporations. She currently serves on the boards or advisory councils of institutions including the Berggruen Institute, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the Centre for Global Development, and the World Economic Forum, where she co-chairs the Global Future Council on Good Governance. She has also advised governments, the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and the G20. Professor Woods is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles on international political economy, globalisation, and global governance, and her work has had a significant influence on policy debates worldwide. She studied Economics and Law at the University of Auckland before completing an MPhil and DPhil in International Relations at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. In recognition of her contributions to higher education and public policy, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2018. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts.