Discovering Insight and Engagement

Chloe Webb (Senior Policy Associate) 

Since becoming a Policy Associate for Public Policy Southampton in 2021, I’ve had the privilege of experiencing (and enjoying) several placements and internships in both central and local government. However, when I came across the term ‘Behavioural Insight’, I had a feeling that my background in psychology, and specifically social psychology, would align with this area of policy.

The role of this team in an organisation is to apply principles from psychology and other social sciences to understand and influence human behaviour. Their main objective is to design and implement interventions that encourage positive behavioural changes, often in areas such as public health, education and finance. I was lucky to find that Hampshire County Council have their own Insight and Engagement team who were happy to take me on for a secondment. Balancing this role alongside my PhD was a challenge but as someone who likes to push themselves to their limits, it was manageable!

As many will empathise with, pursuing a PhD can be a very solitary journey which I think can sometimes foster a preference for self-reliance and lone-working. However, I was immediately integrated into a wonderfully welcoming and competent team and despite being a part-time intern, I never felt sidelined; rather, I was embraced as a valued member, entrusted with varied yet meaningful tasks, and given the flexibility to be creative.

Over the course of five months, I undertook a large range of responsibilities and tasks. From conducting in-depth desk research, to designing discussion guides for and facilitating focus groups, from creating slide decks and presentations, to programming a functional tool in Excel and carrying out data analysis and detailed thematic coding, I thoroughly enjoyed the breadth of projects I got to experience. Furthermore, the majority of these tasks were for public health projects. I had been introduced to this field through a previous PPS project, however my tasks in this internship focused on a broad range of demographics, age groups and health issues and I realised I have a real passion for this field. I particularly enjoyed having direct contact with target groups. For example, I attended focus groups and interviews with teen smokers and sandwich carers which I could see collected invaluable insight, a very different method to the quantitative methods I was used to in my PhD research.

It was also incredibly satisfying to witness the tangible impact that this research has had on local communities and beyond in real time. For example, I was involved in testing visuals that were going to be potentially distributed to the local community to inspire behaviour change, and I helped develop a tool that could be rolled out to councils all over the country in the future. Seeing the positive feedback from clients and the high-quality output created from these projects really highlighted the significance of evidence-based policymaking that combines academic findings with an understanding of behaviour change. I can see why such teams are growing and why their value is being recognised and utilised more widely.

As I embark on the final leg of my PhD, I am excited for what the future holds having finally found a career path I can really picture myself doing. I would like to note my thanks to the excellent Insight and Engagement team at HCC, and Jonathan in particular, for being a great teacher and providing me with useful feedback that allowed me to push myself and truly develop my skills in policy. As ever, I am grateful to Public Policy Southampton, with special thanks to Yaryna, for facilitating these invaluable experiences and undoubtedly shaping my professional future.

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