Dr Olga Siemers

Olga is a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy in the International School for Government. She is a programme director for the Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Policymaking programme offered to the mid-career Civil Servants through the UK Civil Service’s Policy Profession. Her research looks at the intersection of government policy, decision-making and risk management in the context of global uncertainty and digital transformation.

 

Before joining King’s in 2019, she was working at Oxford University and Open University as a Research Fellow and Tutor in Political Economy. Prior to her academic career, Olga was working as an analyst in a private office of an MP in the German Bundestag. Olga holds a PhD in Employment Research from Warwick University and a MA in Political Studies from Freie Universität Berlin.

 

Currently, Olga is researching if and how cross-government collaboration and stakeholder engagement help policymakers navigate the constantly changing landscape of global policy challenges. This is an ongoing research project.

 

Olga is a Co-Investigator on the international ESRC/JSPS-funded Research Project assessing Impact of Covid-19 in the UK and Japan. The project runs from 2022 to 2025.

Teaching

Postgraduate

• 7SSO2000 Global Public Policy Challenges
• 7SSO1022 Embracing Uncertainty. Policymaking in Turbulent Times
• 7SSO1015 Behavioural Insights and Government Policy
• 7SSO1014 Foresight and Horizon-scanning in Policymaking
• 7SSO2001 Policy Skills Project

Invited talks and engagement

Olga often consults government departments and public sector organisations on the issues related to her area of expertise. She was involved as an academic advisor on the International Study on Digital Transformation in the Public Sector commissioned by the Swiss Government. Olga contributed to this final report published from this study in 2023.

 

She provides talks and guest lectures for the programmes aiming at public officials and business executives:

 

European CAPITALS programme for public officials from Germany, France and Italy in partnership with Hertie School in Berlin and the LUISS School of Government in Rome, 2023

 

Operational Delivery Excel programme for the UK Civil Service’s Operational Delivery Profession, 2023

 

Politics, democratic governance and sustainable and inclusive growth Red de Accion Politica (RAP) Symposium for public officials and political leaders from Argentina, 2023

 

Public Service Executive Education programme for the Qatar Leadership Centre, 2022

PhD supervision

Olga is interested in supervising PhD students in the following subject areas:

• Public policy and administration
• Decision-making in government
• Innovation and policy entrepreneurship
• Complex systems and complexity theory

Current PhD students

Sung Eun Cho “A Comparative Analysis of Biocidal Regulations in the EU and South Korea.”

Jin Li “Research on Citizens’ Use and Satisfaction, with Government Responsiveness Using E-government Services in China: The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Study.”

See more details on Olga’s research profile