Brilliant new colleagues have joined King’s School for Government this year!

🔊 "They find the idea of an open society quite difficult to understand, and that pushes them to extreme positions." 🎧 On the next episode of the School for Government podcast, @gsamaras.bsky.social discusses the far-right radicalisation of young men ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/the-sch...

📣 We're delighted to announce three new staff members at the School for Government! 💡 Dr Kate Hoskins joins us as Reader in Public Policy & Deputy Director of the School; Dr Gloria Novovic, PhD is our new Lecturer in Public Policy; & Joseph Sherlock joins as Lecturer. Find out more about them ⬇️

🎉 📣 The Fourth International Behavioural Public Policy Conference is underway! 💥 We've kicked off our packed programme with opening remarks from Conference Chair and Convenor @sanchayanbanerj.bsky.social and our first keynote address from Prof Peter John. Find out more ➡️ www.ibppa.org/conference

We're gearing up to host the fourth annual International Behavioural Public Policy Conference this week, featuring four excellent keynotes by Gerd Gigerenzer, Linda Steg, Peter John and Bobby Duffy. Find out more ➡️ www.ibppa.org/conference

📣 The School for Government is pleased to announce the appointment of three new Visiting Faculty members – Emma de Closset, Sir David Green KC, and Baroness Camilla Cavendish – as well as the continuation of Lord Peter Hain’s association with the School as a Visiting Professor. Read more ⬇️

🔊 New podcast! 🔊 @michael-sanders.bsky.social speaks to Dr Olga Siemers, whose research looks at the intersection of government policy, decision-making and risk management in the context of global uncertainty and digital transformation 🎧 ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/the-sch...

🔊 Have you listened to our new podcast yet? In our new podcast series, we'll be unpacking what goes into good policy-making with a range of leading experts In episode 1 we spoke to Dame Tamara Finkelstein DCB about using evidence in policy to create lasting impact ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/the-sch...

"There’s growing demand for Behavioural Public Policy... but now is a pivotal moment" @sanchayanbanerj.bsky.social and Prof Peter John explore the future opportunities and challenges of Behavioural Public Policy in a new article in @policysociety.bsky.social ➡️ academic.oup.com/policyandsoc...

"Germany shows real potential to implement scientific methods into the policy process, but it still lacks a coherent, system‑wide approach" @michael-sanders.bsky.social & Vanessa Hirneis reflect on what Germany might learn from the UK re evidence based policy ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/state-c...

Excited to be launching our brand new podcast with an interview with policy heavyweight Tamara Finkelstein!

🎙️ New podcast alert! In episode 1 of the School for Government Podcast, @michael-sanders.bsky.social sits down with Dame Tamara Finkelstein DCB to explore what it takes to make good evidence based policy with lasting impact. ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/the-sch...

Congratulations to all our School for Government students who graduated yesterday! 👏 🎉 We can't wait to see how you apply the insights you've learned to the organisations and causes you choose to serve. Well done on a fantastic achievement!

EVENT: Can the public be trusted? With Yuval Feldman Join us, @yuval-feldman.bsky.social, @michael-sanders.bsky.social, Elisabeth Costa & @sanchayanbanerj.bsky.social to explore how trust-based approaches could help solve major challenges facing governments today ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/events/can-t...

“it doesn’t tell us much about what would happen if someone else tried it” @michael-sanders.bsky.social in @cnn.com cautioning against data from trials with self-selecting participants

"Data is like people. If you torture it for long enough, it’ll tell you more or less whatever you want to hear" @michael-sanders.bsky.social speaking to @the-independent.com about the consequences of dishonesty in behavioural science ➡️ www.independent.co.uk/life-style/b...

"the rock solid scientific basis of the work just wasn't there in this case" @michael-sanders.bsky.social on the consequences of working with major behavioural science research that has since been found to be dishonest ➡️ More in the @thetimes.com : www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

🎉 A huge congratulations to our visiting faculty member, Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang, Founder and Director of Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust, who has been awarded a Medal of the Order of the British Empire in the King's Birthday Honours for services to Social Enterprise and Young People. 🎉

"When policymakers spend enough time discussing the nature of the problem with their counterparts from across Whitehall, they pave the way to successful collaboration" Our Associate Prof Olga Siemers in Public Finance on cross-government collaboration ➡️ www.publicfinance.co.uk/opinion/2025...

A new study by @michael-sanders.bsky.social and colleagues for @homelessnessimpact.bsky.social provides important insights into what *doesn't* work to improve wellbeing and reduce burnout among those working in frontline roles in homelessness

"Strategic misjudgements and internal disputes have become particularly evident in the aftermath of the May 2025 local elections." ✍️ Check out @gsamaras.bsky.social's long read for @the-independent.com on the turmoil within Reform UK and the party's impact on the councils it now controls

💡Catch up on our new comment series on the future of evidence-based policy, authored by a range of leading experts. 📖 Each piece reflects on a key aspect of current practice—the challenges, the opportunities, and everything in between. 🧵⬇️

EVENT: Using Behavioural Science for promoting Low-Carbon Lifestyles in the Global South Join us to discuss and share experiences on the role of behavioural science in adopting low-carbon lifestyles, and other climate-related actions. ➡️ www.londonclimateactionweek.org/event/using-...

"...the lack of long-term follow up, particularly using administrative data, is an example of dollar bills being left on the sidewalk." ✍️ @michael-sanders.bsky.social & @julia-ellingwood.bsky.social on the need to not only focus on assessing the immediate outcomes of policy interventions

🎓 Study with us: Executive education Rooted in pioneering evidence-based research and informed by leading expertise, our executive education programme equips learners to maximise impact professionally. ⬇️ Find out more below

Last Friday we were delighted to host the launch of "The Anti-Racist Social Worker in Practice", the new book edited by Nimal Jude, Dr Tanya Moore and Glory Simango. Find out more about the book here ➡️ www.routledge.com/The-Anti-Rac...

💰 "Every pound spent running a randomised controlled trial is a pound that cannot go into running public services" – hence the need for cost-effectiveness, say @michael-sanders.bsky.social & colleagues. Their new study shows it's possible to run RCTs on a budget and still get valuable insights 📊

"...it is quite clear that the agenda has been set by stakeholders on the evidence side, not those closest to practice." Tris Lumley of @thinknpc.bsky.social writes about the need to decentralise the What Works movement for our series on the future of evidence-based policy

"We conduct research on how government works or how it doesn't work... and use that research to either to inform civil service or... form the basis of our education programmes" @michael-sanders.bsky.social speaking to Times Higher Education about the SfG ➡️ timeshighereducation.com/campus/podca...

Improving #implementation is key to overcoming #policy failure, write CEI experts Jane Lewis & Dr Robyn Mildon in a commentary for @schoolforgovt.bsky.social. #impsci #evidence #research #practice #scaling

"...we don't see the services, interventions and approaches that are of proven effectiveness being taken up, embedded and sustained at scale. This is implementation failure...It's there in every policy area, and it's profound." Jane Lewis of @cei-global.bsky.social writes for our comment series

What next for What Works? My reflections a year out from What Works Wellbeing on the practical evidence movement, wellbeing and what I’m doing next

"the landscape of social policy is littered with ideas that should have worked but ultimately were found not to be (cost-) effective" ✍️ @michael-sanders.bsky.social & Julia Ellingwood on the importance of evidence when designing interventions to reduce recidivism ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/we-have...

"When every pound must be fought for, the Treasury is right to demand evidence." ✍️ @michael-sanders.bsky.social & @julia-ellingwood.bsky.social argue not enough energy has gone into researching what actually works to tackle recidivism, and we risk funding interventions without good justification

"What Works Centres could and should be able to operate as the 'institutional hard drive' of policymaking," writes @worklifeyou.bsky.social for our comment series on the future of evidence-based policy

NEW: Inequality remains a blind spot for 'what works' 💬 Check out the latest in our comment series, where @michael-sanders.bsky.social and Vanessa Hirneis argue we need to better assess the impacts of interventions on all groups in society ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/inequal...

"Where the network does consider inequality, it remains primarily in socioeconomic terms...and not on the wider forms and structures of inequality in society" @michael-sanders.bsky.social and Vanessa Hirneis argue the What Works movement should have a greater focus on reducing inequalities

I’ve written about my love for local government, what it can achieve, and (some of) the wonderful people I’ve worked with there for @schoolforgovt.bsky.social @simon14.bsky.social

"...the willingness to try things, and to take those decisions quickly, is very different to the risk-averse attitude that most MPs believe characterises the Civil Service." @michael-sanders.bsky.social writes a "love letter" to local government

NEW: Getting the numbers right matters for evidence-based policy 💬 Check out the latest in our comment series, where @michael-sanders.bsky.social & Dimitris Vallis examine the value of rigour and detail when designing trials ➡️ kcl.ac.uk/news/devolut...

“Design a trial that’s too small, and you risk falsely concluding that something that works is ineffective... too big, and you waste public money” 💬 @michael-sanders.bsky.social & Dimitris Vallis in our latest comment piece on the future of evidence-based policy ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/getting...

Read this interview with our director, @michael-sanders.bsky.social, who argues academics need to "be humble" and change their approach to working with the civil service ⬇️

"How do we keep youth employment high on the agenda across disparate regions?" 💬 Check out the latest in our comment series, where @chrisgoulden.bsky.social argues that devolution offers the chance to embed evidence-based solutions into regional policymaking ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/devolut...

"...Trump is hell-bent on steamrolling cultural norms and silencing dissent, even if it hurls the world into another Great Depression." @gsamaras.bsky.social, Assistant Prof of Public Policy writes for @politico.com ➡️ www.politico.eu/article/dona...

We're hiring: Researcher in public policy Join us and @eteronorg.bsky.social to examine the nexus between taxation policy and European competitiveness 📅 Apply by: 20 April ➡️ www.directtemping.com/jobs/show/16...

"...we see devolution as a fantastic chance to embed evidence-based solutions into regional policymaking...align[ing] with our mission to ensure all young people – regardless of background – can access good work," writes @chrisgoulden.bsky.social for our series on the future of evidence-based policy

Delighted to share my debut op-ed in The Guardian in which I explore Le Pen’s threat to democracy. In the past 14 years we observed the 'de-demonisation' designed to shed the NR's extremist past-a process that shows no sign of slowing. Only the left can stop this. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"...we must not reproduce Le Pen’s argument that her conviction was a political attack...the courts exist to deliver justice, and no one is above the law." @gsamaras.bsky.social, Assistant Prof of Public Policy at the School for Government, writes for the Guardian about Marie Le Pen's conviction

"Why don’t we see many more policy experiments? When confronted with this question, policymakers often point to voters." 💬 Check out the first of our new comment series on the future of evidence-based policy, with Prof Robert Dur. ➡️ www.kcl.ac.uk/news/the-fut...