Resources

On these pages we have curated a range of resources, blogs and interviews to help those both wanting to start a career in think tanks or policy or who are already working in the sector but would like to develop their knowledge and expertise.

  • Interview with a civil servant

    Caroline Cooke is a domestic policy maker who started her career working on affordable housing policy. She also worked across Local Government policy and finance, mortgage finance and Preventing Violent Extremism policy. Caroline has experience of working across many different policy job roles, including working as a private secretary to a Local Government minister. She…

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  • Interview with a research director

    Helen Barnard was an Associate Director at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, helping to develop new solutions to solve poverty. She worked for JRF in policy and analysis for many years and from April 2020 to June 2021 led the organisation as Director. What is your job title? I am currently Associate Director for the Joseph…

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  • Interview with a think tank director

    Anand Menon is Director of the UK in a Changing Europe and Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King’s College London. He has written widely on many aspects of EU politics and policy and on UK-EU relations. He is a frequent contributor to the media on matters relating to British relations with the…

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  • Interview with a director of communications

    After a long career at the BBC where he edited The World Tonight for 10 years, Alistair Burnett was the interim MD of Communications and Publishing at leading international think tank Chatham House. What is your job title? I am the Managing Director Communications and Publishing (Interim) at Chatham House. Where do you work? Chatham…

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  • Interview with a think tank managing director

    Emily Duncan was the Managing Director of centre-Right think tank the Centre for Policy Studies. Following graduation, she worked as cabin crew at British Airways before starting a varied career in think tanks and fundraising. What is your job title? Managing Director as well as Company Secretary at the Centre for Policy Studies. Where do you…

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Work4Mp is a website dedicated to those working in the Houses of Parliament. They list all the current jobs available in Parliament. If you want to work for an MP, either as a caseworker or a researcher then this is the site to head to!

Civil Service Jobs is another great resource for those looking to start in government. The Civil Service employs thousands of policy professionals and you can usually find an interesting role in a variety of different departments.

Working in the think tank sector – once a year a network of think tanks host an online event for individuals from under-represented groups to de-mystify the world of think-tanks. They share some useful links here.