The University’s Heseltine Institute for Public Policy has appointed a new Director and Deputy Director.
Professor Mark Boyle, who has been appointed Director of the Institute, is a human geographer who is currently Professor of Geography at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Dr Aileen Jones joins the Institute as Deputy Director after 15 years of working in public policy, most recently heading up HSBC’s public policy team in the UK.
The Heseltine Institute for Public Policy and Practice is an interdisciplinary research centre focusing on a crucial contemporary challenge: the development of successful, sustainable and inclusive places in an unstable global world. The Institute provides a forum to connect citizens, practitioners, policy-makers and researchers and brings together academic expertise from across the University to examine, debate and discuss critical questions facing societies across the globe.
Professor Mark Boyle
Mark is the author of two books, and more than 70 papers and reports. His research focuses upon cities, regions, and rural places; their struggles to develop in the context of global economic restructuring; the social, political, cultural and environmental challenges they face; and the role of the public policy in addressing these challenges. Mark also has a research interest in migration and questions of settlement and integration in Global North cities. Mark will join the University in January 2018.
Mark Boyle said: “I am excited by the prospect of living and working in Liverpool, a city that faces similar but yet different challenges to both Glasgow and Dublin where I have conducted research hitherto.
“With colleagues, I look forward to positioning the Institute as a leading global research institute on public policy, practice and place. We hope to bridge fundamental and applied research to help the Liverpool city region, and the Northern powerhouse more generally, to continue its path towards prosperity, social justice and environmental sustainability.”
Dr Aileen Jones
Aileen’s career started with a PhD in public policy from University of Ulster, which focused on the role and accountability of quangos in Northern Ireland. She has spilt her career between the public and private sectors, including three years in Parliament as a Committee Specialist, leading research, briefings and inquiries on a wide range of public policy issues. She also has a spent time working on health policy at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the General Medical Council.
Aileen, who took up her role this week, said: “I’m delighted to be joining the Institute and the University at this exciting time. Both Professor Mark Boyle and I are excited to build on the good work done by colleagues here in recent years.
“We want to further develop the Institute’s strong and distinct voice on issues affecting cities, the Liverpool City Region and their people. Personally, I am excited to be back working after a three-and-a-half year career break following the birth of my daughter, and back in academia after 15 years in the public and private sectors.”
Professor Fiona Beveridge, Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Humanities & Social Sciences, welcomed both Mark and Aileen to the University: “Professor Mark Boyle and Dr Aileen Jones bring a wealth of experience and exciting ideas to drive the Heseltine Institute forward, creating opportunities for academics to influence the future of Liverpool City Region and to bring fresh thinking to some of the health and inequality challenges we face both locally and in other parts of the world.”
For more information about the Heseltine Institute please visit: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/heseltine-institute/