Dr Ine Steenmans is a Lecturer in Futures, Analysis and Policy at the UCL Department for Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy. Her work focuses on the effectiveness of different analytical tools in the design of public policy. She specialises in methods and processes used to address policy challenges that span multiple sectors and longer time horizons. As decision support research has historically suffered from a disconnect between theory and practice, and all of Dr Steenmans’ work is needs-driven and undertaken in partnership with policy practitioners. She has especial interest in supporting analytical innovation that fits the typical resource-constrained and time-pressured contexts of policy work.
Dr Steenmans joined UCL in 2017 and previously worked for the UK Government Office for Science. She is Chair of the UK Operational Research Society’s Public Policy Design Special Interest Group, and Adviser to the UK Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security. Ongoing and recent projects have included use of systems mapping, evaluation methods, scenario development, futures literacy, and mission scoping tools across policy areas of healthcare, industrial decarbonisation, built environment, space and cybersecurity in direct partnership with the UNDP, UKRI, Lloyds Insurance, UK Cabinet Office’s Policy Lab and the UAE Office of Advanced Sciences.
She obtained her MEng in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cambridge University, followed by an MSc in International Planning at the Bartlett School at UCL, and then later an EPSRC-funded Engineering Doctorate (EngD) at the UCL Centre for Urban Sustainability and Resilience. Her doctoral research focused on the real-world use of qualitative Operational Research methods within strategic infrastructure planning practices.
