Innovative careers event launched at Hertford: Diversifying Careers in Government & Politics
3 March 2020
On Friday 28 February Hertford College hosted students from the universities of Sheffield, Reading, Oxford Brookes and Oxford for a ‘Diversifying Careers in Government and Politics’ event.
The idea to host this event came from two Hertford alumni; Josh Platt and Dr James Weinberg. Both Josh and James have gone on to have successful careers in the government and politics sector since leaving Hertford, with Josh now working as a Senior Policy Adviser for Her Majesty’s Treasury and James as a Lecturer in Political Behaviour at the University of Sheffield.
Josh and James approached Hertford about running this event as they were both enthusiastic about the work the college is currently championing in regards to access, outreach and diversifying our community. They wanted to do something to address an important gap in the equality, diversity and inclusion provision of university politics departments and the wider political sphere.
15 students from traditionally under-represented backgrounds in the world of government and politics were invited from each of the partner universities (University of Reading, Oxford Brookes University, University of Sheffield and University of Oxford).
We had some fantastic speakers give up their time to join us for the day from a diverse range of careers. The morning consisted of three blitz presentations from Tanya Abraham (Associate Director of Political and Social Research at YouGov), Beth Russell (Director General of Tax and Welfare at HMT) and Claire Dunlop (Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Exeter). These three speakers talked about their careers in the private, public and academic sectors followed by a Q&A with the students.
In the afternoon, Josh talked the students through a mock Civil Service assessment centre with help from other HMT volunteers. This was followed by a roundtable discussion with former Home Secretary and Hertford alumna Jacqui Smith, Chief Economist at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Kumar Iyer, and Emma Norris, Director of Research at the Institute for Government.
As a college, we are incredibly proud to have alumni such as Josh and James coming to us with ideas like this and we were very happy to host such an interesting and informative event. We would also like to extend our thanks to all the speakers, students and staff who were able to join us on the day.
You can have a look at some of the photos from the event on Flickr.
VIEW AND SHARE PHOTOS FROM THE DAY