The Finsbury Institute is a new outward facing hub for policy research and practice, based in the School of Policy and Global Affairs, and located in the City of London in Finsbury Square.
The institute signifies a crucial step forward in City, University of London's commitment to translating scholarly research into tangible solutions for real-world challenges.
Pioneering interdisciplinary research at the Finsbury Institute
Discover how the Finsbury Institute pioneers interdisciplinary research, addressing the multifaceted challenges of the global 'Poly Crisis.' By fostering collaboration across disciplines and institutions, we analyse the economic, sociological, political, and international dimensions of this complex challenge.
With a focus on originality and innovation, our institute serves as a hub for fostering dialogue, driving external engagement, and making a tangible impact on society.
The Finsbury Institute director (as of spring 2025)
Dr Diana Beech has been appointed as the inaugural director of the Finsbury Institute, starting in Spring 2025. Dr Beech has an established track record in leadership and policy roles in higher education and within national government. She is currently the Chief Executive of London Higher which engages with its member institutions, government and London stakeholders to advocate for higher education in the capital.
Prior to this, she was a policy adviser to three UK Universities and Science Ministers, Head of Government Affairs at the University of Warwick and the first Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI). She holds a PhD in German Studies from the University of Cambridge.
Read more: City St George’s appoints inaugural director of the Finsbury Institute
Current event series
A platform for collaboration and exploration
At the Finsbury Institute, we are committed to fostering collaboration and exploration among researchers, academics, and practitioners. Our dynamic forum serves as a space where ideas are exchanged, partnerships are formed, and critical issues are explored. Here's how we do it:
- Exchange ideas: The institute provides a platform for scholars and experts to present, discuss, and debate critical issues, fostering cross-pollination of knowledge and fresh perspectives
- Collaborate with external partners: We actively seek partnerships with external institutions such as think tanks, NGOs, and public bodies to bridge the gap between theory, empirical research and practical implementation
- Explore the knowledge-power dynamic: The institute interrogates the complex relationship between knowledge and power structures, we examine who produces knowledge, for whom, and with what motivations.
The principles of the Finsbury Institute
The Finsbury Institute embraces diverse perspectives, rigorous inquiry, and actionable collaboration to challenge conventional wisdom and drive transformative change in research and policy.
Broad church
All serious research-based and reasoned thinking and ideas are welcome at the Finsbury Institute. We prioritise theoretical, conceptual, methodological, and empirical rigour, as well as its practical applications. We encourage unconventional thinking and ideas for debate, discussion, and development.
The Finsbury Institute is non-partisan and open to all serious thinkers and practitioners regardless of gender, ethnicity, race, colour, creed nationality, sexuality, or disability.
Combining knowledge and action
We are dedicated to exploring critical thinking about the knowledge and power nexus, debating theories of knowledge and practice. Our core mission is to question the relationship between knowledge and power, recognizing that knowledge is hardly neutral. Decolonising, declassing, and de-gendering knowledge and practice are fundamental concerns for us.
By deconstructing knowledge and practices and globalising knowledge and practice, we open up key issues, expand our intellectual and professional horizons, and gain access to other voices and viewpoints.
Collaboration
The Finsbury Institute aims to build collaborative original-research and policy-influence teams, supported by doctoral, postdoctoral, and visiting Finsbury Fellows, as well as Practitioners in Residence. This collaborative approach aligns with City, University of London's 2022 Strategy and Action Plan, focusing on establishing a theoretically-informed and empirically rigorous research and practice-oriented think tank.
Past events
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“A thinktank for our times”: City launches the Finsbury Institute
City launches the Finsbury Institute (a research centre aimed at translating research into policy) with the conference 'Polycrisis Interrogated'.
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Becoming better global citizens: the Finsbury Institute welcomes Hope in Haringey charity
The Finsbury Institute of City St George’s welcomes Haringey schoolchildren and local charity for an educational symposium on politics.
Rosemary Hollis Memorial Lecture
The Finsbury Institute launched its inaugural Rosemary Hollis Memorial Lecture, hosted by the School of Policy and Global Affairs, on 27 February 2024.
The lecture series is dedicated to the memory of the late Professor Rosemary Hollis, a much-loved and much-missed colleague who served as a Professor of Middle East Policy Studies at City from 2008 until her retirement in 2018.
Aimed as a cross-disciplinary and community-building event, City envisions the lecture series to explore social issues that impact the modern world today.
The inaugural lecture was titled “I danced here on other peoples’ dreams: How racism shaped my critical eye” and delivered by City journalism alumnus Gary Younge (PG Dip Newspaper Journalism, 1993). He discussed his outstanding career success and the trials and tribulations that have come with being a renowned Black journalist.
Commentaries
Panel Discussion Series: American Election 2024
About the American Election 2024 discussion series.
Whichever way the the 2024 US presidential election goes, the outcome will have highly significant effects on the peoples of the United States and the rest of the world. In this context, the Finsbury Institute, City International Policy Studies, and the Research Group on Global Disorder are hosting three panel discussions to focus on some of the most significant issues raised by the US election.
Panel Two: What the US elections mean for the world
13 November 2024
Commentaries from the panel:
- Dr Lea Hellmuller (City St George’s, University of London): Reflections on the Election Outcome and Its Impact on Journalism
- Dr Ahmed Waheed (Roads Initiative; NUST, Islamabad, Pakistan): US-Pakistan Relations and the Continuity of Policies
- Professor Bobby Banerjee (Bayes Business School): Pensive reflections on Trump 2.0
- Professor Inderjeet Parmar (City St George’s, University of London): Despite the gloom, there is also hope after the 2024 US elections
Panel One: The future of US foreign policy
16 October 2024
Four commentaries from the panel:
- Andrew Payne (City St George's, University of London): Foreign Policy and Wars are on the November Ballot
- Maria Ryan (University of Nottingham): Election 2024 and US foreign policy
- Hilde Restad (Oslo/UT Austin): Three Foreign Policy Camps Show Bipartisan Support for the Liberal International Order is Waning
- Zeno Leonie (KCL): Leading a small fortress West
The problem of uncertainty and crisis in international politics
23 September 2024
About the inaugural event of The Finsbury Institute.
Three commentaries provide differing ways of thinking about our age of uncertainty, its roots, character, and even hope that in the face of such large structural forces at work in the world, that we as individuals and organised groups still have agency, have the power to understand what’s going on, resist injustices, and fight for progressive change.
- Dr Lise Butler: Chaos, crisis, order, stability – and the Labour Party past and present
- Dr Mustafa Kutlay: Three faces of the crisis in international order: representation, redistribution, responsiveness
- Professor Albena Azmarov: Precarity, not uncertainty is what afflicts our world
Research impact case studies
Our research shapes the real world, inspires our students and has lasting impact. These case studies provide working examples of our research output.
Featured case studies
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Evaluating the effects of tax spillovers in a global setting
Research case study
The Baker-Murphy framework is helping NGOs, authorities and governments around the world better understand how to limit tax abuse.
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Helping Sierra Leone create a universal healthcare scheme
Research case study
A large-scale survey to determine Willingness to Pay among people with no employment security.
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Making integration easier for Syrian refugees
Research case study
Research from City, University of London inspired the British Government to change its policy around refugee status.
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Reforming police responses to reports of rape and domestic abuse
Research case study
Research by Dr Katrin Hohl is informing police understanding of sexual and domestic violence; changing police training, procedures, and resource allocation; and benefiting victim-survivors.
- Informing energy market regulation and competition policy in the UK and Europe
- Using European Social Survey data to shape policy initiatives across Europe
- Creating affordable visas and legalising cannabis to combat the black market
- BEAST: Racial Inequalities in the Creative and Cultural industries
- Social media ‘bots’ used to boost political messages during Brexit referendum
- Becoming ‘East and Southeast Asian’ Race, Ethnicity and Youth Politics of Belonging in Britain
Governance
- The Finsbury Institute is led by a Director to uphold and practice the aims and principles of the Institute
- The Director Reports to the Executive Dean, and works with the Senior Leadership Team and wider SPGA research community, its constituent departments and research centres, and doctoral and post-doctoral scholars, to advance their research and practice strengths, their internal and external engagement and impact.
- The Director works with an Advisory Board comprising external (national and international) members, faculty, the Executive Dean, Associate Dean (Research), and others as appropriate, to ensure the proper governance of the FI
- The Director will work with the Executive Dean, Deputy Dean, Associate Dean (Research), and other Centre Directors to promote an effective research and practice culture through the School.
- The Director develops and manages, in cooperation with relevant School leaders, a Visiting Fellows and ‘Pracademics’ programme for the FI in line with its aims and objectives and the aims of SPGA.
- The Director leads City colleagues to build a world-leading institute that brings into union practitioner, policymaking, campaigning and other organisations with City’s theoretically-informed empirical knowledge-makers in order to confront and address the great local, national and global policy challenges and crises of our time. They work closely with and support the administrative, managerial and academic members affiliated with the FI.
- Director of the Finsbury Institute provides leadership in defining the social scientific ‘Research at the Frontier of Practice’ agenda of the Institute (FI), aligned with the City, University of London, and School of Policy and Global Affairs Research Strategy 2023-2028 strategy, the 2030 Research Action Plan and the requirements of REF2029.
- The Director engages with the commercial and public sector policy communities in London and the wider UK to showcase City, University of London research expertise and identify opportunities for collaboration, including in policy advocacy and advice, commissioned research, CPD activities, and raising philanthropic income for research and research studentships.
- The Director works to create the intellectual space for knowledge production and especially co-production with external agencies, organisations, and actors, local, national, and international, and will be a powerful external advocate to develop, strengthen and maintain those networks.
- The Director’s mission is to build strong relations and links with the work of the other Schools of City, University of London, to promote activities and programmes that cultivate cross-School, inter- and multi-disciplinary thinking, as well as bridging the scholar-policymaker/practitioner ‘gap’.
- The Director seeks external funding to ensure continuity and infrastructure support for the Institute’s range of activities, including promoting the Institute through an effective, up-to-date website, publicity material, including via appropriate forms of mass media, social media, workshops, conferences, and other forms of outreach to relevant external agencies and institutions.
- The Director will contribute to and oversee the management of taught Public Policy and other Masters’ programmes in the FI to ensure they are up to date with policy and scholarly developments, competitive with other comparator universities and meets the needs of students from diverse academic and professional backgrounds.
- The Director participates in the wider life of the School, working with the Director of Marketing and Communications, and Associate Dean (Research), and other appropriate members of SPGA departments and research centres, in promoting the research, teaching and impact and engagement of the FI.
- The Director manages and is accountable for funds held by the Institute in accordance with the School's accounting and reporting procedures, including providing regular reviews of the Institute’s activities and finances as a member of the School's Research Committee, reporting quarterly to the Senior Leadership Team, and any other appropriate committees.
- The Director facilitates the production of the Finsbury Institute Annual Report, intended for public consumption.
Opportunities with the Finsbury Institute
We invite you to explore possibilities for:
- Collaborative research projects: Partner with us to tackle critical societal challenges leveraging our expertise and resources.
- Events and workshops: Attend engaging events and workshops designed to stimulate dialogue and collaboration between researchers and practitioners.
Participate with us
The Finsbury Institute embodies City, University of London's dedication to bridging the divide between academic research and practical solutions. We are confident that the institute will become a catalyst for positive change, fostering innovative solutions and a more equitable approach to knowledge production and utilisation.
News
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Donald Trump inauguration: City St George's experts respond
Experts across City St George's react to Donald Trump's second inauguration.
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British Museum kicks question of Parthenon Marbles into the long grass
City St George’s historian Dr Georgios Giannakopoulos explains how the Elgin Marbles became a thorn in British-Greek diplomacy.
