Deep Dive: Working with Whitehall | 24th June

The session will explore strategies to engage effectively with policymakers, developing tools and techniques that are tailored to the change you want to make.  The session will:

• Open up the black box that is policymaking.  How is policy made?  What are the factors that shape policy decisions?
• Explore what the world looks like to a policymaker, to help you put yourselves in the shoes of the people you are trying to influence.
• Examine strategies for engagement: applying the insight into policy to the changes you want to make.

The session aims to demystify policymaking for campaigners, and to help them apply this knowledge to campaigning activity. We hope it appeals anyone looking to influence government policy who want to make their campaigning sharper, more targeted and more effective

In this session you will:

• Gain an insider’s perspective on the art of policymaking
• Reflect on how to apply that insight to campaigns on which you are presently engaged.

About the facilitator

Stephen Meek is a specialist in understanding and working with policy makers.

He spent 25 years as a civil servant, beginning his career in HM Treasury and holding Board level appointments in the Department for Education and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. From 2018 to 2024 he was the inaugural Director of the Institute for Policy and Engagement at the University of Nottingham, connecting research and policy. Since 2025 he has worked as an independent consultant.

He was a founding member and chair of the Universities Policy Engagement Network from 2019-2021 and was an Impact Advisor to Main Panel C in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. He has worked in an advisory capacity for universities, charities, government departments, and the UK Parliament.