Dr Vanessa Picker is a postdoctoral Quantitative Researcher at the Government Outcomes Lab, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. Her doctoral research focused on the diffusion of public management innovations, analysing how and why some early-stage innovations rapidly diffuse throughout the public sector, despite limited evidence of success.
Within the GO Lab, Vanessa evaluates the Public Service Reform: Test, Learn and Grow Programme, examining whether and how place-based, iterative “test and learn” approaches improve policymaking and social service delivery. Vanessa also has a growing interest in the role of AI in supporting policymakers, including both its potential to improve decision-making and, as with any new intervention, its potential for unintended harm.
Before and during her Oxford MSc and DPhil, Vanessa built extensive experience across the Australian public service, including as a member of the specialised policy taskforce implementing the AUD$20.7 million Investment Approach to Welfare, as a Policy Officer within the Office of Social Impact Investment at the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, and as Assistant Director of the Health Economics Section within the Australian Government Department of Health. She also worked on various research projects at Oxford's Department of Social Policy and Intervention (DSPI) and at the Blavatnik School of Government.
After completing her PhD, Vanessa worked as a Research Fellow at King's College London, and subsequently as a Senior Evaluator within dedicated evaluation units at the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
Vanessa holds an MSc and DPhil in Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation (University of Oxford, funded by a Rotary Global Grant Scholarship and a Clarendon Scholarship), a Master of Politics and Public Policy (Macquarie University, Australia), and a Bachelor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (University of Adelaide, Australia).
Across her varied career, Vanessa has combined breadth with deep technical skill, designing and delivering impact evaluations that draw on randomised and quasi-experimental designs, linked administrative data, and complex, multi-layered interventions across a wide range of policy areas and settings. This combination allows her to bridge rigorous academic method with the practical realities of government decision-making, generating evidence that is both technically robust and genuinely actionable.
Picker, V., Hirneis, V., & Sanders, M. (2024). A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of the Staying Put Intervention for Reducing Homelessness Among Care Leavers. European Journal of Homelessness. https://www.feantsa.org/public/user/Observatory/2024/EJH_18-1_A04.pdf
Sanders, M., Hirneis, V., & Picker, V. (2024). A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of the Lifelong Links Intervention for Reducing Homelessness Among Care Leavers. British Journal of Social Work, 2024, bcae068. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcae068
Sanders, M., Hirneis, V., & Picker, V. (2024). “The Impacts of Staying Put on Housing Outcomes for Young People Leaving Care: An Evaluation Using Matching and Difference-In-Differences.” London, United Kingdom: Centre for Homelessness Impact, July 29, 2024. https://bit.ly/Staying-Put-Report-2024-CHI
Picker, V. (2022). Social Impact Bonds (SIBs): analyzing efficiency and legitimacy motivation using systematic review methods and social media analysis [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.
Picker, V., Carter, E., Airoldi, M., Ronicle, J., Wooldridge, R., Llewellyn, J., Monk, L.,Stone, S., Gibson, M., Rosenbach, F., & Hameed, T. (2021). Social Outcomes Contracting (SOC) in Social Programmes and Public Services: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review Protocol. Social Science Protocols. 4(2021). https://doi.org/10.7565/ssp.v4.5430
Meinck, F., Pantelic, M., Spreckelsen, T. F., Orza, L., Little, M. T., Nittas, V., Picker, V., Bustamam, A. A., Herrero Romero, R., Diaz Mella, E. P., & Stöckl, H. (2019). Interventions to reduce gender-based violence among young people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS in low-income and middle-income countries. AIDS (London, England), 33(14), 2219–2236. https://doi.org/10.1097/QAD.0000000000002337
Picker, V. (2017). Current barriers to and facilities of undertaking rigorous impact evaluations of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) - a stakeholder informed systematic review and thematic synthesis [Master's thesis]. University of Oxford.