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Specialist Adviser to International Trade Committee opportunity

The International Trade Committee (ITC) is calling for expressions of interest in becoming a Specialist Adviser to the Committee, to support its scrutiny of UK trade negotiations. The role is a rare opportunity to influence policy, broaden your research horizons, and create impact suitable for REF purposes. 

The role of the Trade Committee, within the House of Commons, is to scrutinise the spending, administration and policy of the Department for International Trade (DIT), and other associated public bodies. It is made up of the Chair (Angus Brendan MacNeil MP) and ten other MPs.

The Inquiry

The DIT is currently negotiating Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the US, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, the Government is expected to apply to accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Further trade negotiations are likely to begin soon, as the Government pursues its objective of having 80% of UK trade covered by FTAs within the next three years.

The ITC is conducting an open-ended inquiry into UK trade negotiations, as a means of scrutinising these FTA negotiations.

The Role

The Committee is seeking to appoint a number of Specialist Advisers with relevant expertise in trade policy and trade law to support the Committee with FTA scrutiny on an ad hoc basis. The successful candidates may be asked to:

  • work with the Committee secretariat to identify and analyse the relevant issues for the Committee raised by individual FTAs;
  • contribute to briefings and draft reports for the Committee and comment on drafts of written material produced by the Committee secretariat;
  • advise on sources of information and evidence, including potential witnesses; and
  • attend Committee meetings and provide oral briefings when required.

The role will involve attendance at Committee meetings. Currently this would be virtually, but may involve physical meetings in Westminster in the future, depending on circumstances. The Committee will meet the necessary expenses for attendance at meetings or other work related to the role. The names of Specialist Advisers, and any relevant declarations of interests, will be published in any reports with which Advisers have been involved.

There is uncertainty around the timescales for FTA negotiations. The Committee wishes to appoint Advisers now who will be available to advise it as and when required, as negotiations progress. The time commitment for an advisory role to a Committee is unpredictable however it is not expected to exceed 20 days in a calendar year. Advisers will not generally be required to work more than two days in any one week – but there may be times when short periods of very intense work are required. Advisers are paid a daily honorarium on the basis of work done.

The Committee is keen to hear from applicants from a wide range of backgrounds, including those who have not previously engaged with Parliament or Select Committees.

Please engage with the BU policy team (policy@bournemouth.ac.uk) and seek permission from your Faculty before making an application. There is a contact at the Committee if you wish to find out more.

The deadline for application (a CV, covering letter (max 2 sides), and a declaration of interests) is midnight on Friday 5 March 2021.

The Government’s Areas of Research Interest

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) have released a new opportunity for research colleagues:

In April POST ran a survey of experts on the COVID-19 outbreak expert database that resulted in the publication of syntheses about the future effects of COVID-19 in different policy areas. From this survey POST developed Parliament’s first Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) which are lists of policy issues or questions that policymakers are particularly interested in.

Currently only the ARIs which are linked in some way to Covid have been released. However, they are not all health based and touch on a range of themes from crime, economics, inequalities, trade, supply chains, mental health, education, sustainability across several sectors, and so on.  Do take the time to look through the full question list to see if it touches upon your research area.

Alongside the publication of the ARIs is an invitation to experts to add current or future research relevant to the topics to a repository that Parliament may use to inform future policy making and Parliamentary work. Research with relevant research across any of the disciplines are invited to submit their work.

BU colleagues are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this rare opportunity to present their research to policy makers. The Policy team is here if you need any help. If you’re ready to go please do respond to the call directly, afterwards please let both the Policy team and your faculty’s Impact Officer know that you have responded.

Bournemouth University to host workshop exploring the future of trade agreements post-Brexit

A workshop at the Commonwealth Secretariat, organised by Bournemouth University (BU), will explore the impact of Brexit on trade policy and agreements.The two-day workshop, Navigating the Evolving Free Trade Agreements Landscape: Implications of Brexit, will take place in London on 6 and 7 February 2017.

It will feature international speakers from a range of academic and professional backgrounds around the theme of trade policy post-Brexit, with a keynote address by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP.

Mr Clifton-Brown MP is the Co-Chair of International Trade and Investment All Party Parliamentary Group and will discuss the UK’s trade priorities in 2017.

Deliberations throughout the workshops will focus in particular on Brexit issues including consequences for global trade relations, public procurement, and the perspective of businesses.

The workshop is part of an Economic and Research Council (ESRC) funded research project entitled ‘Transformations in Global Governance: Integration via Free Trade Agreements’ (GIFTA).

It is being held jointly with the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, and will feature four Round Table discussions and several paper presentations on Brexit and the future of trade policy.

Professor Sangeeta Khorana, Professor of Economics at BU, is the Principal Investigator of the ESRC research project.

She said: “The aim of the workshop is to improve evidence-informed policy and practice by facilitating mutual engagement between academic, business and policy communities around current and future policy needs following the vote to Brexit.”

Find out more about the ESRC research project on the GIFTA website