Fellows

Current Fellow

Jenny Bates – Heywood Fellow 2025-26

Jenny Bates is our current Heywood Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government and Hertford College. Beginning her career at HM Treasury, Jenny has worked in economic policymaking for over twenty years, including roles in the FCDO, BEIS, and HM Treasury, as well as spending time in Washington DC. She was most recently a Director General in the FCDO between 2020–2025.

During her fellowship, Jenny will consider the changing global economic order and seek to develop a refreshed approach – or longer-term strategy – for the UK.

Find publications by Jenny and her team.

Past Fellows

Lucy Smith – Heywood Fellow 2024–25

Lucy Smith was our third Heywood Fellow. In her fellowship, Lucy explored how governments can develop successful long-term strategies, a vital issue in today’s rapidly changing world.

Lucy held a number of senior roles in the Cabinet Office between 2012 and 2020, first as Principal Private Secretary to Nick Clegg during the Coalition Government, and later as Constitution Director and then Director General of UK Governance Group. Between 2020 and 2024, Lucy was Director General for Strategy at Defra.

Since completing her time as Heywood Fellow and publishing her National Strategy Playbook, Lucy Smith was named Director General of National Strategy in the Cabinet Office.

“The Heywood Foundation has been delighted to support Lucy’s work, and her push to get the UK government to be better at thinking long-term – which is the only way to address these cross-generational challenges – is very much welcome. These are not easy issues to address, but our children, and their children, will thank us if we put in place long-term plans to address these issues, and formulate that thinking in a way that engages people across our society.” – Suzanne Heywood, Chair of the Heywood Foundation

Find publications by Lucy and her team.

Jonathan Black – Heywood Fellow 2023–24

Jonathan Black was our second Heywood Fellow. During his fellowship, Jonathan researched connecting foreign and domestic economic policy. His report set out an agenda for how policy making needs to change to stay ahead of geopolitical trends and foster a culture where integrated and innovative policymaking is instinctive across: people; information and insight; partnership with business; alliances between countries; systems; and structures.

Jonathan served as the Prime Minister’s G7/G20 Sherpa and Deputy National Security Adviser between 2019 and 2022. Prior to that, he was Deputy Head of the Europe Unit at the Cabinet Office and a key Brexit negotiator. He held various senior roles at HM Treaury, including working as Press Secretary to George Osbroen between 2011 and 2014, and Prive Secretary to Chancellors Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling between 2005 and 2007.

He is now a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Columbia University, New York, and a Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Ditchley Foundation.

“We are delighted that Jonathan has been a Heywood Fellow and that, at this moment of huge geopolitical turbulence, has produced a piece of thinking that will improve the way in which government thinks about the interaction between security and economic issues. His work shows the importance of taking the time to do longer term policy thinking and applying this to the way in which government works, something that Jeremy passionately supported.” – Suzanne Heywood, Chair of the Heywood Foundation

Find publications by Jonathan and his team.

Olly Robbins – Heywood Fellow 2019–20

Olly Robbins was the inaugural Heywood Fellow in 2021. Olly’s research focussed on the role of the Cabinet Secretary and his report was provided confidentially to the Cabinet Office.

Olly held a number of senior roles in the Civil Service. He served as Principal Private Secretary to Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown between 2006 and 2007, as well as Second Permanent Secretary in the Home Office between 2015 and 2016. He then acted as a key adviser on Brexit, as the first to hold the role of Permanent Secretary for the Department for Exiting the European Union from its establishment in 2016 until 2017, before taking on the role of the Prime Minister’s Europe Adviser between 2017 and 2019, and the Chief Negotiator for Exiting the European Union between 2017 and 2019. He was most recently the Permanent Under-Secretary of the FCDO and Head of HM Diplomatic Service between 2025 and 2026.

About the Fellowship

The purpose of the Fellowship is to allow a Senior Civil Servant (a Secretary or Director General) the opportunity to explore issues relating to public service and policy, outside of the immediate responsibilities of Government duties. Each Fellow is asked to make recommendations based on their work for how policy making can be changed in the area of research the Fellowship will cover.

In addition to the Heywood Foundation, the fellowship is also supported by our partners: the Civil Service, the Blavatnik School of Government, Hertford College, Oxford and the ESRC. We are very grateful to them for their support in making this fellowship possible. The Blavatnik School of Government is a global school of public policy committed to improving the quality of government and public policymaking worldwide https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/