Our participating organisations
Three think tanks, one programme.
Participants in the Policy Futures Programme join one of our three host think tanks to kickstart their careers in the sector. Read more about this year's participating organisations below.
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Institute for Public Policy Research
IPPR are working towards a fairer, greener and more prosperous society. They have helped shape national conversations and progressive policy change for more than 30 years. From making the early case for the minimum wage and tackling regional inequality, to proposing a windfall tax on energy companies, IPPR’s research and policy work has put forward practical solutions for the crises facing society.
Their work drives social, democratic, environmental, and economic progress by securing:
- Well-funded and reformed public services (health, care, housing, education) and social security that ensures everyone has access to the basics they need to flourish
- A renewed democracy, which gives everyone a voice in society and passes power down to people, places and communities, alongside a fair and compassionate immigration system which supports social integration
- A modern, green economy that delivers prosperity and justice to all people and places through actively shaping markets for social good and tackling concentrations of wealth and power.
Demos
Demos puts people at the heart of their policy and research work to create bold ideas, fundamental and lasting change, and a more collaborative democracy.
Their work focuses on four key areas:
- Everyday Democracy: designing, trialling and advocating for new practices and institutions to upgrade democracy and rebuild trust between state and citizen, and between citizens
- Public service reform: making the case for person-centred and preventative services that deliver for people and restore faith in government
- The Citizen Economy: building a new economic deal between citizens, government and markets, in which work, tax, investment and markets deliver good growth
- Resilience Information Ecosystems - strengthening information supply chains to break the cycles of misinformation and mistrust that fuel democratic decline
Social Market Foundation
SMF’s mission is to enable markets and government to work together to benefit society.
Their work covers many aspects of public policy, including:
- Economics and market regulation;
- Work, skills and education;
- Public sector reform;
- Energy and the environment;
- and the way power and wealth is shared between people and places.
They believe in the power of markets to create and share wealth, but know this requires a sensible partnership between the state and the private sector.
SMF does not take sides in party political debates, but works to inform people, of all parties and none, about how public policy can improve outcomes, especially for the people and places too often left out of the political conversation.
For think tanks · become a host
Want to help widen access to the policy sector?
Join the next cohort as a host.
We're looking for a small number of additional think tanks to host placements in the 2027–28 programme. We handle recruitment, training and guide candidate selection – and you get a high-potential junior researcher embedded in your team for twelve months.