Inside Westminster: Understanding Energy Policy & How ECRs Can Shape Net Zero Futures

An online policy engagement session for postgraduate researchers across the UK

Join us for an interactive online session exploring how UK Parliamentary Select Committees operate and how policy recommendations, especially around net-zero and energy are developed.

You’ll gain insights into the policymaking process and hear directly from research fellows working in Parliament about their pathways to influencing policy as early career researchers (ECRs).

Register: Inside Westminster: Understanding Energy Policy & How ECRs Can Shape Net Zero Futures, 20 August 2025, 14:00-16:30 – C-DICE

The session will include:

• Keynote: Dr Stephen McGinness – Inside Parliament: The Role and Power of Select Committees
• Speaker: Dr Shivangi Sharma – How ECRs Can Influence Policy
• Speaker (TBC): First-hand reflections on working inside Westminster
• Q&A and Interactive Discussion – Opportunities for live engagement throughout

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Describe how research contributes to policymaking within the UK Government and Parliament, particularly in the context of net-zero strategies.
2. Gain insight into parliamentary processes and how research evidence is used to inform policy decisions on energy security and net zero.
3. Explore and identify routes for early career researchers to engage with policy, including fellowships and secondments.
4. Recognise and understand the challenges and opportunities of working within or alongside Parliament, such as handling sensitive data and managing competing priorities.
5. Learn and reflect on peer experiences in policy engagement, drawing on lessons from their career paths and practical experiences.
6. Participate in discussion and Q&A with experts and practitioners to deepen understanding of how researchers can effectively contribute to UK net-zero policy goals.

 

 

Speakers:

Stephen McGinness, Committee Clerk, House of Commons

Stephen came to Parliament as a specialist in the Commons Library. He moved on to be head of the Commons Information Office and then, after an interesting year as part of the MP Expenses Review team, moved to the Committee Office, clerking the Science and Technology Committee and the Public Accounts Committee.

Stephen left Committees to work as a votewriter in the Journal Office writing the vote at least weekly, compiled and indexed the Journal and undertook procedural research. He returned to the Committee Office as clerk of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and International Trade Committees and, most recently, became clerk of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee.

Shivangi Sharma, Research Fellow, University of Birmingham

Dr Shivangi Sharma is a Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) fellow in the Birmingham Energy Institute, University of Birmingham and is a Committee Specialist at the House of Commons. She holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering, an MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems from the University of Edinburgh, followed by a PhD in Solar Energy from the University of Exeter.

Her postdoc has focused on industrial energy efficiency and decarbonisation. She received the Global IChemE Highly Recommended Energy Research Project award from the Institution of Chemical Engineers in 2022 with her research team for their circular economy innovation in foundry by-products.

Before joining academia, she worked at Jaguar Land Rover, Volkswagen Group, and the Tata Group of companies. Out of her passion for sustainable living, health and well-being in the developing world, Shivangi also volunteers for community energy initiatives and United Nations projects worldwide.