Apply to become a CPP Practice Fellow

The University of Glasgow Centre for Public Policy (CPP) is now accepting applications for its first cohort of Practice Fellows. CPP Practice Fellows are policy professionals who spend approximately 20 hours over six months at the Centre for Public Policy to gain insights into policy questions facing them in their roles. Fellows are professionals external to higher education in a policy-relevant role from the public, voluntary or private sector.

The Centre for Public Policy Practice Fellows programme aims to foster interdisciplinary engagement, collaboration and research activity by bringing policy professionals into the University of Glasgow. This Fellowship programme aims to collaboratively produce and mobilise knowledge for mutual benefit; to increase the CPPs research and engagement capacity and network while investigating pressing issues from policy organisations and building skills. Applicants will put forth a series of policy questions they would like  to investigate through academic engagement. Questions should be focussed on issues facing them in their professional practice where research evidence and academic engagement could positively contribute.

The Centre for Public Policy will help facilitate a series of meetings with academics and research teams across the University of Glasgow over the course of three months in Autumn 2025 for the Fellow to gather insights on their questions, lasting 2-10 hours in total.

The Fellows will then work with CPP staff to produce at minimum one output on their policy questions and engagements for the CPP website upon the conclusion of their Fellowship.

Why become a Fellow?

Practice Fellowships offer access to leading researchers across a range of disciplines at the University of Glasgow to support the development of evidence-informed policy, offer innovative career development pathways, and foster collaboration between academics and policy professionals. Specifically, a Fellowships enables a professional to engage with evidence and expertise around a pressing question in their work.

Practice Fellows also have access to the CPP office hub at the Advanced Research Centre and support from CPP team members to enable them to develop their activities.  

Practice Fellows 

  • Gain access to expertise from the academic and policy communities from a broad range of fields aligned with CPP strategic themes.
  • Have support from CPP team members to enable them to make connections and access resources they may need to progress their public policy assignment and/or project work.  
  • Can use to hot desk space at the CPP Hub at the Advanced Research Centre.  
  • Will be given Affiliate Status and entitled to a University of Glasgow staff card, IT/email account and access to resources such as the University Library.  
  • Have priority access to relevant CPP events and knowledge exchange activities.  
  • Through association, benefit from the Centre for Public Policy’s positive reputation for building partnerships with the policy community, to foster joint working and evidence-based policymaking.  

Eligibility

The Centre for Public Policy welcomes applicants with experience of working within the public policy field as policy makers and/or practitioners, external to higher education institutions.

To be eligible to be a fellow, an applicant must have three years minimum experience in a policy-related role. It does not have to be three years within the same organisation. This can include those working at all levels of government, the voluntary sector or the private sector. We will not appoint fellows who are currently working within higher education institutions.

A Practice Fellow is not a paid staff member of the Centre for Public Policy. They undertake this fellowship on the agreement of their line manager as a part of their regular role in their home organisation.

How to apply?

Please fill out the application form and attach it to an email to public-policy@glasgow.ac.uk. The deadline is by 5pm on Friday 16 May.

Download: CPP Practice Fellows Application Form

For more information on the Fellowship, please see our CPP Practice Fellows FAQs.

If after reading the FAQs you have questions about the Fellows scheme, please contact the Centre for Public Policy at public-policy@glasgow.ac.uk.

First published: 4 April 2025

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