New OPEN Visiting Fellow Policy Professional appointed at the Faculty

2 June 2025

Alex Pykett has been appointed as a new OPEN Visiting Fellow Policy Professional with the History Faculty.

Alex is currently Deputy Head of China Department at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. He has previously been posted to New Delhi and Prague and has worked across a range of political and security issues, with a particular focus on Asia and Europe.

Alex is joining OPEN as a Visiting Fellow policy professional.

He is interested in new perspectives and research trends in history and he will be working principally with the History Faculty, but he will also be exploring interdisciplinary links that might inform contemporary foreign policy issues and policy-making in government.

As a Visiting Fellow, he is keen to look at how a closer understanding of government might assist established and aspiring academics, and how their work can benefit policy formation and organisational improvement in the civil service.

The six-month OPEN Visiting Fellowship offers policy professionals the opportunity to:

develop a deeper understanding of the process for generating research and evidence in an academic setting; build a network of potential academic contributors working in relevant policy areas; and broaden subject matter expertise in a particular area of public policy.

In addition to building a network of researchers, academics and collaborators across the University, Fellows and Host Departments will co-convene events in Oxford with the aim to build linkages with colleagues across UK government and civil service, local authorities and university departments.

Alex will be co-hosted at the Faculty by Dr Jennifer Altehenger and Professor Martin Conway.