Resident Senior Policy Fellow

Resident Senior Policy Fellow, Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative

LSE Cities seeks to appoint two Resident Senior Policy Fellows for a one-year period. This Fellowship is a component of the Bloomberg LSE European City Leadership Initiative, a pioneering program to help mayors and their teams across the continent strengthen leadership skills, drive public sector innovation, and tackle complex urban challenges to deliver tangible results for residents in new ways.

Candidates should have proven leadership in driving innovation across city government and related sectors; strong knowledge of research in urban governance, inclusion, climate, transport and planning, with decision-making experience in European and international institutions; and extensive experience working with high-level policy institutions.

Resident Fellows will be encouraged to build on their experience by contributing to the following four research areas and/or develop their own research and policy agenda:

• City Government Innovation Observatory: using large-scale data and quantitative analysis to understand how city governments across Europe innovate, how they are structured, and how political and institutional factors shape their impact.
• City Government Innovation Capacity Deep Dive: closely examining how European city governments build innovation capacity – organisational, analytical, partnership-based and leadership – and translating findings into practical guidance and learning resources.
• Studio 1 – City Government Innovation for Extreme Crises, Risks and Emergency Governance: investigating how European cities adapt, innovate and transform their institutions in response to extreme crises, risks and rapidly evolving emergency conditions.
• Studio 2 – Technology, Data and City Government Innovation: exploring how emerging technologies and data systems reshape city government innovation, organisational models and the growing European urban tech landscape.

In addition, Fellows can build on their professional experience to provide input and advice and establish connections with cities and city governments, assisting in shaping and delivery around their particular area of expertise.

The other criteria that will be used when shortlisting for this post can be found on the person specification, which is attached to this vacancy on the LSE’s online recruitment system.

In addition to a competitive salary, the benefits that come with this job include an occupational pension scheme, research grants policy with personal reward options, generous research leave (sabbatical) entitlement, a collegial faculty environment and excellent support, training and development opportunities.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 17 May 2026 (23.59 UK time). We are unable to accept any late applications.