Speakers

Eleanor Carter is the Academic Co-Director for the Government Outcomes Lab (GO Lab) and is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow.

Eleanor’s research investigates challenges in coordinating complex public service delivery networks and cross-sector partnerships. She is one of Apolitical’s 100 Most Influential Academics in Government. Eleanor’s work explores the ability of novel contracting arrangements – like social outcomes contracts and impact bonds – to facilitate purposeful partnerships and effective services that avoid perfunctory or cynical behaviour by contract holders.

Before moving to Oxford, Eleanor gained experience from the policy-maker perspective working as an advisor for the Social Investment and Finance Team in the UK’s Cabinet Office and through collaborative research projects with the Department for Work and Pensions.

Eleanor’s work has been published in a range of journals including Social Policy and Administration and Journal of Social Policy. Key research outputs have also been translated into policy submissions and she frequently advises on policy design and evaluation strategies for government departments and voluntary sector organisations.

Geoff Hope is an experienced senior civil servant with a proven track record of strategic thinking, problem-solving, people leadership, and navigating complex relationships to deliver results collaboratively. With over 20 years of experience across MOD, DFID, FCO, and DCMS, he has: led the UK’s international response to COVID, amongst other crisis leadership roles; led teams internationally to deliver multi-million-pound programmes, including managing global aid portfolios; unlocked billions of pounds of investment for community organisations; and led teams to operationalise complex strategies, including turning around failing teams. He excels at a ‘systems thinking’ approach, bringing together complex components across multiple disciplines to create impact.

Juliana Outes Velarde is a Senior Data Steward at the Government Outcomes Lab, at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. She leads the work of the International Network on Data for Impact and Government Outcomes - INDIGO - a data and learning collaborative with the goal of collecting more and better data for better social outcomes. Her work is motivated by a desire to understand what are the best practices to improve the use of data and evidence in the design of social policies and programmes.

Before joining the Government Outcomes Lab, Juliana worked as a civil servant in different public offices in Argentina, such as the Public Innovation Secretary. Her work was related with the design and implementation of the National Plan of Modernisation for the public sector. She also worked for the government of her province, Salta, and briefly participated as a research assistant in the Interdisciplinary Programme for Human Development and Inclusion of the Faculty of Economics, Catholic University of Argentina.

Juliana completed a Masters in Politics, Big Data and Quantitative Methods at the University of Warwick in 2020 and holds a degree in International Relations from the Catholic University of Argentina. She is particularly interested in understanding how academic organisations can support governments, and how a data stewardship model can both enhance the quality of data assets and curate a meaningful conversation around the social outcomes data ecosystem.