Oxford Policy Pod

As COVID-19 continues to rage and ravage our communities, the gains made in the past decades towards gender equality are at risk of being reversed. How have women been hit by this pandemic? Which groups of women are most vulnerable? And what are gender-sensitive policies for COVID-19 response and recovery?

To look at the impact of the pandemic on women, our host Sruthi Palaniappan is joined by Amanda Sadalla, a consultant for UNICEF Brazil on fighting and preventing violence against women and girls. To explore this discussion further our correspondent Mayra Gramani engages with Marina Ganzarolli, a Brazilian lawyer specializing in women’s rights and diversity and the creator of the “Me Too Brazil” movement. In addition, to offer an expert glimpse on the pandemic's impact on women in South Asia, our correspondent Nandita Venkatesan speaks with Dr. Dipa Sinha, an Assistant Professor at Ambedkar University in India and a regular contributor on social justice issues, women’s rights and food security.

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

On the morning of February 1st, Myanmar's military imprisoned prominent political figures and imposed a yearlong state of emergency, alleging fraud in the November election. Protesters have since taken to the streets in what has been Myanmar’s largest civil disobedience movement in over a decade. So what led to this coup? What are these protesters demanding? And why? 

To unpack these questions and more, our host Sruthi Palaniappan is joined by Kyaw Win, the Executive Director of the Burma Human Rights Network. To hear the perspective of the conversations and demands on the ground in Myanmar, our correspondent Laura Caccia engages with Oxford’s MPP own Burma Graduate Scholar, Nyan San Lwin.  

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

After rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, several social media companies took an unprecedented action — banning then-president Donald Trump from their platforms. This decision has spurred much conversation on whether and when limitations to online speech are justified.  Increasingly, social media giants have come under fire for not doing enough to address issues including mis- and disinformation, hate speech and incitement to violence on their platforms. But who should draw the red lines around online speech? What content should they exactly moderate? And what is the balance between protecting free speech and upholding the public interest?  

To engage with these questions, our host Sruthi Palaniappan speaks with Timothy Garton Ash, a Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford, a columnist for The Guardian, and the author of Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World. To further explore this discussion, OPP correspondent Laura Caccia is joined by Nani Jansen Reventlow, the founding Director of the Digital Freedom Fund, an international human rights lawyer who specialises in strategic litigation and freedom of speech, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Oxford. 

The executive producer for this season of OPP is Lian Ryan-Hume. And this episode was produced by Manuel Azuero, researched by Laura Caccia, and edited by Allisha Azlan. To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Instagram @OxfordPolicyPod_ and Twitter @OxfordPolicyPod. 

On January 20th, the world watched the change of leadership in the White House as President Joe Biden took office and quickly re-joined the Paris Agreement. Was this a political action or one which will result in meaningful policy changes in the U.S. and elsewhere? Will Biden be able to effectively act on climate change? And who will pay for climate actions globally, especially to support the world’s most vulnerable communities? To look at some of these questions, our host Sruthi Palaniappan is joined by Brendan Guy, a Lead Strategist at the Natural Resources Defense Council working to enhance climate ambition from major emitters. 

To bring to light the unique issues facing developing countries and small island nations, our correspondent Frédérique St-Jean speaks with two Oxford Master of Public Policy students — Brook Dambacher, a former legal advisor who supported the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group at the United Nations climate change negotiations, and Elsie Fukofuka, a former government official from the Kingdom of Tonga. 

The executive producer for this season of OPP is Lian Ryan-Hume. And this episode was produced by Jessica Krejcie, edited by Allisha Azlan and researched by Frédérique St-Jean. 

To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Instagram @OxfordPolicyPod_ and Twitter @OxfordPolicyPod.

COVID-19 has led to two million deaths worldwide. With distribution of the highly anticipated vaccines underway, ethical questions about who should receive the vaccine first are of great significance. How should governments prioritise healthcare workers, seniors, people with pre-existing conditions, and racial minorities, who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19? How do international organizations develop guidance? And how do governments, policymakers and public health officials implement this guidance?

In the first episode of season 3, our host Sruthi Palaniappan is joined by University of Oxford Professor Jonathan Wolff, the co-author of a paper on ethical COVID vaccine distribution, to unpack these questions and more. To uncover how the vaccine distribution plan is implemented in practice, our correspondent Veniecia Laylor speaks with Dr. Ira Klein, the Chief Medical Officer of Health New England, who is leading the roll out of the COVID vaccine in Western Massachusetts.  

To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Instagram @OxfordPolicyPod_ and Twitter @OxfordPolicyPod.

Welcome to Season 3 of Oxford Policy Pod based out of the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. In Season 3, join our host Sruthi Palaniappan as she speaks with leading experts in public policy and unpacks some of the most pressing policy challenges we face today.

On December 6, 2020, President Nicolás Maduro consolidated his grip on power after claiming victory in Venezuela’s parliamentary election — an election that was denounced by electoral observers and boycotted by opposition parties. The question now is who has political legitimacy? The Maduro regime or the opposition? 

In the last episode of season 2, Suta Kavari introduces our new host Sruthi Palaniappan as they take a look at the crisis in Venezuela. They speak with David Smolansky, one of the leaders of the Popular Will Party and the former mayor of El Hatillo in Caracas, Venezuela, to illuminate the political front of the crisis.

To uncover the everyday realities of Venezuelans and the impact the humanitarian emergency in Venezuela has had on neighboring countries, Suta and Sruthi are joined by two Oxford MPP students, Samuel Diaz from Venezuela and Manuel Azuero from Colombia.

Peerce McManus, Merin Joseph and Roy Sefa-Attakora, alumni of the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford join Suta Kavari to discuss what the most appropriate policy responses to crime and social disorder should be. They dive deep into the questions around whether the criminal justice system, and in particular prisons, are a failure of imagination or policy, and if they are, how should they be reformed?

On 4 August 2020, a massive explosion rocked Lebanon. The explosion, caused by a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely in the port, devastated the capital, Beirut and left least 204 dead and 6,500 injured. Amid growing anger at years of corruption and mismanagement, the government resigned. Three months after the explosion, as the palpable anger and frustration at a failing state a moment of reckoning? On this episode Suta Kavari talks to Melanie Cremona about whether Lebanon is on the precipice of disaster?

Covid-19 has had a profound impact on the education outcomes on millions of children across the world, following the unprecedented closure of schools. While the pandemic represents a larger shock to the education system for this generation, prior to it the world was living through a crisis in education. 

In this Episode, Suta engages with Dhruv Gupta on ways to counter these shocks. On matters regarding the future of education, Suta discusses with Shabana Rasij-Rasikh- an Afghan educator & women's rights champion,  and Yair Leibel, an Israeli who founded the International School of Peace for refugee children in Lesbos, Greece.