Steven Clarke

The Final Group Project is a great eye-opener to anyone who might wish to consider economic development, policy, or consultancy work for their career. The project assignment presents many of the same challenges: management of client expectations, development of a methodology, collection of data, long hours, on-site visits and interviews with stakeholders, the drafting of a detailed report, and then the presentation and defence of your findings.

Steven Clarke

Learning how to have an impact outside of the lab

“I enrolled in the MPhil in Technology Policy to complement my background in biotechnology with a better understanding of policy, economics and the management of technology, in order to pursue my career working in the application of science and technology towards economic development. I feel that the core modules of the programme provide the theoretical background in technology policy, and as the year progresses you are taught about the real-world policy context in which scientific policy issues are raised. This is particularly interesting when you are faced with a real-world issue for technology policy to analyse and discuss. The programme allowed for a great deal of flexibility in the choice of optional modules, which I used to further my knowledge of policy matters regarding energy, sustainable development or the socio-economic benefit of R&D, all of which have been of great value in my career working first in developed countries, and now in developing ones.

“The Final Group Project is a great eye-opener to anyone who might wish to consider economic development, policy, or consultancy work for their career. The project assignment presents many challenges one would expect: management of client expectations, development of a methodology, collection of data, long hours, on-site visits and interviews with stakeholders, and then presenting and defending your findings. I had the privilege of working with the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic on a project that would help set out the foundations for a real-life policy benefitting applied research in the country. As student projects go, the fact that our work was going to be meaningful and have an impact was something quite special.”

Biography

Steven is an Energy Specialist at the World Bank, where he joined through the 2019 Young Professionals Programme and works in the Energy & Extractives unit focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa.

After leaving Cambridge he worked in PwC’s public sector advisory practice where he worked for three years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo providing Technical Assistance in setting up solar mini-grids. He also worked for several years on science and energy policy assignments and studies for the EU institutions.

Before coming to Cambridge Steven worked at the European Investment Bank as a consultant working in the Joint Assistance to Support to Projects in European Regions (JASPERS) team of the Projects Directorate. He also received an MSc in Biotechnology, Bioprocessing & Business Management from the University of Warwick, and a BSc in Biology from the University of Bath.