Case studies: Policy officer: Chris

Chris analyses new policy developments, shares best practice, answers queries from the sector and produces guidance and communicates policy through presentations.

Chris has worked as a policy adviser for the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU), since March 2008, working on race, religion and belief equality issues. The ECU was established in 2001 to promote equality for staff employed in the higher education sector and expanded in 2006 to cover equality and diversity issues for all students. Chris studied mathematics at Imperial College in 2002, before completing a Research Masters in Public Policy and Management at Birkbeck College in 2007.

I chose to enter a career in race and equality as I’m interested in social justice and see equality as vital to society. I see higher education as playing a key role in personal development of people and society. Although my role at ECU initially involved working specifically on race issues, I now work on religion and belief as well. I analyse new policy developments, share best practice, answer queries from the sector and produce guidance and communicate policy through presentations. I enjoy the opportunity to improve the chance and experiences of students going to university and of the staff working there. I also enjoy meeting staff within the sector and presenting my work to them. In the future I might like to further develop my team management skills for use on larger scale research projects.

Prior to joining ECU, I worked at the National Autistic Society as a policy, parliamentary and campaigns intern whilst working part-time at Paddock School as a special needs assistant. In these two roles I gained experience in disability equality issues through various duties; reporting and researching an on-line survey regarding the special needs statementing process, drafting responses to government consultations, producing summaries on various parliamentary sessions and working with a class of autistic children on several facets of their development.

I feel that my Masters degree helped me to get my job at ECU as it gave me knowledge of how policy is developed, the implications of equality and associated legislation, and how different sectors interact. I completed my dissertation on positive action policies since the Brixton Riot (1981), with particular reference to the representivity of different ethnic groups in staffing levels at the council. My first degree in mathematics was also useful as I improved my analytical skills and ability to analyse data. Both degrees gave me the opportunity to learn about teamwork and research methods.

I feel that people who want to pursue a career in race relations need experience and empathy for the area. Experience through education and voluntary work within the field is valuable and good communication skills can also really help. Jobs tend to be in the public sector and I’ve noticed that nowadays posts tend to be more generic equality posts covering a broad remit of equality and working on cross strand legislation. Although issues are distinct, there’s a lot of commonality across the different strands of equality.

AGCAS

Sourced by Janet Latham, Leeds Trinity and All Saints

Date: 

May 2009

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