Kate Heaphy placement – Climate Change Committee, London
How does climate science become climate action? Through the UKRI policy internship scheme, I joined the analyst team at the Climate Change Committee (CCC) from July to December 2025 to discover the answer and explore how scientific evidence informs real-world policy.
Who are the CCC?
The CCC is an independent, statutory organisation established under the world-leading Climate Change Act (2008).
It provides the UK and devolved governments with evidence-based advice on mitigation (reducing climate stressors such as carbon emissions through carbon budgets) and adaptation (adapting to the future climate through climate risk assessments and progress reports).
What did it involve?
My part-time internship involved many different tasks, primarily researching existing UK policy and gathering evidence around risk and extent of climate impacts, as well as different policy options to manage these. The role included talking to a wide range of stakeholders across many different sectors. Case studies were particularly helpful in understanding the challenges faced in different sectors, and how to overcome these.
Each UKRI Policy intern has a completely different experience depending on their host organisation, and that organisation’s current needs–meaning the work is always highly relevant, impactful, and contributing to current UK needs.
Most importantly… Why?
The most important question! Although my PhD investigates ecological climate impacts, specifically increasing droughts on the Amazon rainforest, as an international PhD student hailing from New Zealand I had very little knowledge of UK-specific climate policy and processes.
This placement allowed me to explore the intricate, interlinked, and increasingly critical world of climate change risk and science-based options in the UK, learning from some of the best in the world. More broadly, understanding how scientific research is translated into policy and government-level advice that is actionable is crucial for researchers to produce impactful work that actually makes a difference (and doesn’t remain locked away in one of those densely worded scientific articles!).
For example, how can researchers design projects from the outset with policy relevance and societal impact in mind? How can researchers communicate their findings to policy-makers, and relevant community and stakeholder groups? How can insights from local or site-based studies be scaled up to inform national-level policy?
An impactful experience
I am very grateful for this opportunity, which has helped me to bridge the gap between science and policy action—while contributing to real-world climate solutions.
To other PhD students, I highly recommend undertaking an internship at one of the participating organisations. To the support team at Envision and the hard-working team at the CCC, thank you!