Help Set the Political Agenda this Summer
The Opportunity
The Big Tent Ideas Festival will this year be held in Coventry as part of the City of Culture on Saturday 10th July. Focusing on regeneration and economic, social and cultural recovery post-Covid, the Festival is an opportunity for the public to engage with senior politicians and regional and business leaders to generate new political ideas and influence the public policy agenda.
The Big Tent’s public policy partner, Radix think tank, is looking for 3-4 PHD students with outstanding listening and writing skills to attend the conference, identify the best ideas and write them up as part of the Conference’s New Ideas Report.
What is Big Tent?
Founded in 2017, The Big Tent (www.bigtent.org.uk) is a charitable foundation dedicated to creating space for non-partisan conversations about big policy issues and to giving a voice to places and people left behind, particularly focussed on regeneration.
Its mission is to convene and curate new conversations to unleash real, transformational and lasting renewal and regeneration. This year Big Tent will
IDEAS: help shape new ideas and thinking around the key issues of green growth, health and creativity.
LEARN: seek to learn from the experiences of people and businesses in and around Coventry,,drawing on the City’s proud heritage and its capacity for future innovation.
INFLUENCE: provide a platform to reach out to and influence those who set our country’s direction.
Expect attendees to include Government and Opposition Ministers and spokespeople, entrepreneurs and businesspeople from across the region, policy makers, academics, local council leaders and the West Midlands Mayor.
What is Radix?
Known as the think tank of the radical centre, Radix (www.radixuk,org) is concerned with system change and challenging conventional notions and thinking. It is pragmatic, independent and cross-party, working in three main areas: economic, political and social renewal. Radix’s policy recommendations have influenced thinking on the role of central banks, the future of the health service and the implementation of Brexit.
This year, Radix is partnering with Big Tent to capture and convey to policy-makers and influencers, the Festival’s best new ideas.
The Big Tent/Radix New Ideas Report
Radix has lead responsibility for producing a short snappy report based around the central ideas to come out of the Festival’s 18 sessions. These sessions, each lasting no more than 50 minutes will be divided across 3-4 tents, which are, in turn, concerned with green growth, healthy growth and creativity.
Big Tent is still putting together the programme and each session is likely to have a different format but will certainly offer the opportunity to hear both from local champions and national policy makers and commentators.
Each ‘idea’ will be expressed in between 400-800 words and will be identified directly from the discussion in each session.
The end product will be a Radix paper entitled “[Number] New Ideas to Rebuild Britain from Coventry to the Country” and will include commentary from leading participants such as Festival co-chairs, George Freeman MP and Baroness Sally Morgan, as well as representatives of the City of Culture and the West Midlands.
The Report will be edited by Radix’s Policy Director, David Boyle.
The Role
Radix is looking for 3-4 students from Coventry University to work on the New Ideas Report.
These writers will:
- Each be assigned to a different tent and be expected to listen to six sessions held there and make appropriate notes as well as a recording;
- Then be expected to work with the session leaders and Report editor to identify the ‘new idea’ from each session and write each one up in no more than 800 words.
- Need to revise and redraft with the help of the session leaders, sponsors and the editor.
- Present each idea clearly, succinctly and interestingly to explain its value.
Required Skills
- The ability to listen, understand and explain important information
- Outstanding journalistic writing skills – clear, succinct and newsworthy
- Tenacity, reliability and follow through
- Excellent communication skills
- An interest in public policy and politics
Remuneration
You will be required to spend a full day at the Festival itself and we anticipate up to three days for write up and revision.
In return you will receive free entry to the Festival, lunch and appropriate refreshments, plus £760 for successfully completed copy (£190 per day)
Applications
Please apply with CV and cover letter, together with a short example of your writing (no more than 800 words) to Ben Rich ben.rich@radixuk.org no later and 5pm on Tuesday 1st June. For further information please call Ben on 07469159134.
Check out the social media platforms for further details:
@Radix_UK
https://www.facebook.com/Radixthinktank
For Big Tent its
@BigTentIdeas