Are you interested in bolstering democratic governance in Europe?

Professionals from Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Turkey who are active in public policy fields in government, NGOs, media and law among other sectors are invited to apply for a Policy Fellowship opportunity offered by the Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) at the University of Cambridge as part of the POPBACK project.

POPBACK is an academic consortium carrying out research to inform strategies to increase democratic resilience by studying the mechanisms that “exclusionary populist” movements use to increase their power by undermining the rule of law and eroding the divide between the public and private domains in the areas of law, the economy, and the media. The project also seeks to identify the “coping strategies” societal actors use when faced with exclusionary populism. For more information please visit the project web page.

The Policy Fellowship is a flexible professional development programme which includes a week spent in the UK at the University of Cambridge, and in London meeting researchers and policy officials to exchange knowledge and access research and expertise. We anticipate that this residency week for Policy Fellows will be during November 2021.

Policy Fellows are invited to pose up to 6 policy questions relevant to their work, which relate to the research of POPBACK and that could form the basis of discussion with academic researchers and other experts. We will provide access to leading researchers across a range of disciplines.

Policy Fellows are associated with CSaP and the POPBACK project for two years, alongside their jobs, and have the chance to make the most of connections that they make, to pursue policy objectives with academic input.

 If you are interested in the opportunity, the application can be found here, and inquiries can be addressed to Nicola Buckley, CSaP Associate Director, at policyfellows@csap.cam.ac.uk . The deadline for applications is 19 March 2021 - 12am GMT. Applications will be assessed by an election panel.

 This project will cover the expenses for the successful candidates to visit Cambridge and London, UK and become a Policy Fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy.

 The successful candidates are responsible for making their own visa applications to visit the UK for a one-week professional visit.

 The POPBACK research project and this Policy Fellowship opportunity is funded by NORFACE, a partnership of national research funding agencies in Europe dedicated to leading and developing opportunities for scientists in the area of social and behavioural sciences.