Oxford Policy Pod

This episode discusses the challenges associated with the transition to a net-zero future in Africa. Presently, more than 600 million people across the continent lack access to electricity, and many African countries are reliant on fossil fuels for economic development. At the same time, Africa only accounts for 2-3% of global carbon emissions. This reality means that the transition to a cleaner economy may impose an acute burden on people living in Africa. 

Our host, Ujunwa Ojemeni, is joined by Professor Sir Dieter Helm of the University of Oxford and Fatma Lucy Nyambura of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative to discuss how to ensure this energy transition is inclusive and just for all Africans. 

Professor Helm is a Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford, a Fellow in Economics at New College, and an Adjunct Faculty Member at the Blavatnik School of Government. Previously, Professor Helm was a member of the Economics Advisory Group to the British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and is the author of acclaimed books The Carbon Crunch (2012) and Natural Capital: Valuing The Planet (2016), Burn Out (2017), and Net Zero (2021), among others. 

Fatma Lucy Nyambura is a Policy Officer at the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), focusing on commodity trading and state-owned enterprises transparency. Her work entails development and implementation of policies to increase the disclosure of oil, gas, and minerals sales and purchases. Prior to joining the EITI, Nyambura worked in development consulting in Ghana, Georgia, Liberia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Nyambura is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a Certified Public Secretary. 

This episode is hosted by Ujunwa Ojemeni and produced by Read Leask. Our executive producers are Livey Beha and Read Leask. To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_. 

This episode discusses the challenges associated with migration and human displacement in the context of climate change, and explores policy responses available to international organisations. Given the complex interactions between climate change, conflict and displacement, many humanitarian agencies and NGOs are only just beginning to come to grips with the implications of climate change on displacement issues. 

Our host, Roshan Melwani, is joined by Dr. Nina Hall, an Assistant Professor of International Relations at John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She previously worked as a Lecturer at the Hertie School of Governance, and was a Policy Officer at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Her research focuses on international organizations, transnational advocacy, climate adaptation, and global refugee governance. Dr. Hall’s book “Displacement, Development and Climate Change”, explores how international organisations have evolved their mandates over time to incorporate climate change as an area of focus. This podcast delves into and builds on the insights offered by the book to see how our global humanitarian institutions can remain fit for purpose to respond to the challenge of climate change.  

This episode is hosted and researched by Roshan Melwani. Our executive producers are Livey Beha and Read Leask. To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_. 

Have you ever wondered how the disastrous impacts of climate change affect national and global security? How do we, states, and international organizations respond to these and prepare for imminent challenges?  

In this first episode of our Earth Month "Climate” series, host Logan Williams and the team at the Climate Change and (In)security Project discuss the intersections of climate change and national security and the challenges that come with addressing this existential threat. From specific regional concerns in the Arctic and The Sahel to the framing of local and multilateral solutions, this episode will delve into what it means to work towards a better future amidst global rising temperatures.

Dr. Tim Clack is the Chingiz Gutseriev Fellow at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford. He is also an Official Fellow for Environmental Change at Reuben College, Oxford. He joins the episode to discuss his research focus on responses to climate and environmental change, including conflict and migration. 

Logan is also joined by Louise Selisny, who is a Strategy Consultant with a specific interest in communications and defense. She has been engaged by a variety of organizations across the corporate and public sectors, including the UK Home Office and the UK Ministry of Defense. She has a wide range of local governance and stakeholder relations experience in Eastern Africa and Central Asia, and joins us to discuss the human security dimensions of this challenge.

This episode was hosted by Logan Williams. The executive producers for this season of OPP are Read Leask and Livey Beha. And this episode was produced by Claddagh Nic Lochlainn, Grace Miner, and Elsa Katz. To stay up to date on Season 4, be sure to subscribe to Oxford Policy Pod wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow us on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_ and on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod.

As we close International Women’s Month, this episode discusses the economic challenges and opportunities facing women all over the world. The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic displaced millions of women from the global labour force and unraveled several decades of progress in closing economic gender gaps. Governments around the world will need to prioritize gender-based policymaking in the years ahead in order to regain this lost ground and achieve true gender equality. This episode takes a look at key elements of gender-based economic policymaking alongside two experts in the field, Dr. Sarah Kaplan and Sanchita Mitra.

Our hosts, Ujunwa Ojemeni and Swathi Ramprasad interview these distinguished experts to get their perspectives on the main barriers to women's economic empowerment in both developed and developing countries. Our guests also provide an overview of some of the policies that governments can implement to help dismantle these barriers. 

Dr. Sarah Kaplan is a Distinguished University Professor and the Director of the Insitute for Gender and the Economy at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Her interview focuses on women working in the formal sectors of the global economy. She also discusses key gender policy themes like the wage gap, childcare, pay transparency, and feminist economic recovery policy. 

Sanchita Mitra is the National Coordinator at SEWA Bharat. SEWA Bharat is a federation of women-led institutions providing economic and social support to women in the informal sector in India. Sanchita speaks with Swathi about the unique situation of women who work in informal sectors of the economy, and how SEWA has worked with its members to improve their access to government programs. She discusses the following topics: gender-based violence and safety, financial inclusion, community organizing, and advocacy. 

This episode is hosted by Ujunwa Ojemeni and Swathi Ramprasad; produced by Grace Miner; and researched by Laeticia Kamel and Srinithya Nagarajan. Our Executive Producers are Read Leask and Livey Beha To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_. 

This episode discusses the housing crisis that cities around the world are facing, and explores the public policy solutions needed to address it. Urban areas are shouldering much of the burden associated with global population growth, including with respect to affordable housing supply. Given this growth is expected to continue, affordable housing policy is likely to be one of the most salient public policy pressures facing governments around the world for some time. 

Our hosts, Melissa Lockett and Alec Greven, are joined in this episode by four experts who share their perspectives on how we ended up in this crisis and what we can do about it. Daniel Pryor and Julieta Perucca outline ideological frameworks for the affordability crisis and why our current system has been unable to supply low-cost housing. Daniel is the head of policy research at The Adam Smith Institute, an independent, economic policy think-tank based in the UK. Julieta is the Former Chief of Staff to the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing and the current Deputy Director for THE SHIFT, an organization stewarding the global movement to secure the human right to adequate housing.

Jonathan Cortell and Oliver Harman delve into practical approaches for supplying housing in both high-income and low-income areas. Jonathan is a Managing Director at L&M Development Partners, a real estate development firm in the U.S., overseeing mixed-use developments. Oliver is a Cities Economist for the International Growth Centre and a scholar of sustainable housing policy in low-income developing countries.

This episode is hosted by Melissa Lockett and Alec Greven; produced by Livey Beha and Read Leask; and researched by Claddagh Nic Lochlainn, Livey Beha, and Nikunj Arwal. To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_. 

On February 24th, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since the initial invasion, the Russian army has made significant advances on the capital Kyiv and several other major cities. This invasion has shocked the world and has resulted in a level of violence that has rarely been seen in Europe since the Second World War. Tragically, many civilians have lost their lives and the conflict continues more than two weeks later without a clear end in sight.

This first episode of Season 4 of the Oxford Policy Pod will break down the current military conflict in Ukraine with award-winning war historian Professor Margaret MacMillan. She is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto and the University of Oxford. Her publications have been translated into over 26 languages. Our conversation with Professor MacMillan addresses the key geopolitical and historical dynamics driving the conflict, explores how nations on either side should respond, and considers the lessons that history teaches us about securing peace.

This episode was created by students at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government and is hosted by Alec Greven. The episode was supported by Logan Williams and Harry Kirk and our executive producers Livey Beha and Read Leask. To keep up with our latest episodes, follow us on Instagram @OxfordPolicyPod_ and Twitter @OxfordPolicyPod.

Welcome to Season 4 of the Oxford Policy Pod, based out of the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. This season, join students in the 2021-2022 Masters of Public Policy cohort who will guide you through policy challenges shaping our world.

March 15 marked the 10 year of the start of the conflict in Syria. This conflict that started as civilians protests against the Assad regime quickly became a proxy war waged on many different fronts. Over the course of 10 years, 12 million Syrians – half the pre-conflict population were displaced. Over 400,000 Syrians lost their lives in this crisis and the infrastructure is in shambles with no straight path forward. This raises a lot of questions about how reconstruction should occur and under what conditions, how the displacement crisis and the humanitarian needs of civilians should be addressed, and who is responsible for it. Our host, Sruthi Palaniappan is joined by Rime Allaf, a Syrian-born writer, political analyst and communications strategist. Rime is on the Board of Directors of The Day After, a renowned Syrian-led civil society organisation working to support a democratic transition in Syria. In addition to the geopolitical issues, our correspondent, Hafsa Anouar, explores the several humanitarian challenges faced by millions of Syrian refugees and internally displaced Syrians with Mazen Alhousseiny, a Syrian who's currently working at Syria relief, the largest Syria focused NGO in the United Kingdom.

The executive producer for this season of OPP is Lian Ryan-Hume. This episode was researched by Frederique St. Jean, Hafsa Anour and Veniecia Laylor; produced by Veniecia Laylor, and edited by Veniecia Laylor, Hafsa Anour and Allisha Azlan. To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Instagram @OxfordPolicyPod_ and Twitter @OxfordPolicyPod.

As the COVID-19 daily confirmed cases and death rates decrease in some African countries, the need for strategically re-opening economies and developing sustainable recovery plans has become increasingly imminent. The pandemic offers an opportunity to build forward better. To understand what building forward better means in practice, our correspondent Hafsa Anouar is joined by Professor Kevin Chika Urama, Senior Director of the African Development Institute at the African Development Bank. Professor Urama draws a picture of the opportunities that have emerged across the African continent amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and provides recommendations for policymakers in designing resilient and sustainable economic, fiscal, and social policies. To get the private sector perspective on building forward, our host Sruthi Palaniappan engages in a discussion with Tonye Cole, the co-founder and former Group Executive Director of the Sahara Group, an energy conglomerate with operations across Africa. 

The executive producer of this season of OPP is Lian Ryan-Hume. This episode was researched and produced by Hafsa Anouar and Sruthi Palaniappan, and edited by Allisha Azlan. To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Instagram @OxfordPolicyPod_ and Twitter @OxfordPolicyPod.

In recent years, the United States and the European Union have taken more aggressive actions to check big tech firms through antitrust or competition law. Join us as we look into the key issues associated with the power that big tech companies hold and how antitrust law can correct for some of these, as well as how some of these considerations may change in the context of developing countries, and whether or not antitrust is the right policy tool to solve the problems associated with big tech. 

Our host, Sruthi Palaniappan is joined by Professor Gigi Sohn, a public advocate and a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy. To hear the perspective of a developing country on problems brought about by big tech, our correspondent, Paolo Tejano, engages with Commissioner Johannes Bernabe from the Philippine Competition Commission. Finally, to explore the issues of social media networks, our OPP correspondent, Adam Flaherty, speaks with UK tech journalist and author James Ball, to hear his ideas on going beyond antitrust to come up with more holistic solutions to solve this problem. 

The executive producer for this season of OPP is Lian Ryan-Hume. This episode was produced and researched by Paolo Tejano and Adam Flahery. This episode was edited by Allisha Azlan, Paolo Tejano, and Sruthi Palaniappan. To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Instagram @OxfordPolicyPod_ and Twitter @OxfordPolicyPod.