Global Policy Fellows welcome first cohort to London

With a focus on future cities, the programme brought together policy leaders from around the world to tackle challenges associated with rapid urbanisation and the need to make cities more sustainable and resilient. All the activities in the programme were shaped around the specific interests of the Fellows, with each participant submitting the key questions and challenge topics they would like to cover as part of the application process.  

The week also gave UCL researchers the opportunity to engage with the Fellows through a series of one-to-one meetings and networking events. These connections are intended to establish a global network of policy makers and academics whilst strengthening UCL’s international policy connections.

All the Fellowship activities were designed to maximize the opportunities for collaboration and sharing knowledge and skills. The Fellows began their week with a city-to-city knowledge exchange workshop, during which each participant shared a short presentation on urban development challenges in their home city before opening up the session for discussion. This was followed by a workshop on developing meaningful partnerships and how these can help to deliver more sustainable and resilient cities, which included attendees from civil society, the private sector and academia.

The Fellowship included a number of site visits across the capital, enabling the cohort to review first-hand how urban development initiatives are being implemented across the capital. This included a visit to the Greater London Authority and Transport for London to discuss the Mayor for London’s London Plan and the Transport Strategy, a tour of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park by Dr Clare Melhuish, Director UCL Urban Laboratory, and a visit to Vauxhall Nine Elms with Professor Jennifer Robinson, UCL Geography. The week concluded with a summer reception at UCL with Professor David Price, UCL Vice-Provost (Research) delivering the closing speech.

Jenny Bird, Public Policy Manager at UCL STEaPP, said: “Our inaugural Global Policy Fellows programme has enabled UCL academics to hear first-hand about the challenges that cities like Cape Town, Melaka and Islamabad are grappling with as they work towards greater sustainability and resilience.

“The programme has helped to connect practitioners with cutting edge research on topics including sustainable transport, access to water and new ways of financing city infrastructure.

“We hope that the new connections that have been made through the programme will lead to ongoing collaborations and knowledge sharing on a global basis.”

The 2019 Global Policy Fellows were:

• Rafeef AbdelRazek, Urban Development Specialist, World Bank
• Sehyr Anis, Deputy Project Manager, Punjab Tourism for Economic Growth Project, Government of Punjab
• Faezah Ayub, Programme Manager, Think City Malaysia
• Soon-Aik Chiew, Special Assistant to Chairman, Smart City advisory council, Melaka City
• Norliza Hashim, Chief Executive Officer, Urbanice Malaysia (CLBG of Ministry of Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government, Malaysia)
• Tricia Hackett, Advisor on sustainable urban development, International Urban Cooperation-North America
• Dr Neil Khor, Special Advisor to the Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat)
• Nancy Lozano Gracia, Senior Economist, Urban, Rural and Social Global Practice (GSURR) in the Latin America and Caribbean Region, World Bank
• Paul Lim Pay Chuan, Council Member, Smart City Advisory Council, Melaka City
• Kamisah Mohd Ghazali, Senior Vice President, Planning and Compliance, Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA)
• Kayleen Simpson, Policy Analyst for Transport, Planning and Urban management, City of Cape Town