Oscar Nowlan

Photo credit: Isaac Qureshi

I am a final-year PhD candidate at the Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science and Research Fellow at LSE Cities.

I study how governments cope with risk, crisis, and policy failure, and the dynamics of blame and accountability that follow. In my PhD research, I focus specifically on how blame avoidance shapes policymaker behaviour in these situations. I also have broader interests in the study of bureaucracy, regulation, and public services. My research has been published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.

Beyond academia, I have direct experience working on public policy in the United Kingdom, having previously worked as a Senior Policy Advisor at HM Treasury and in other Civil Service and local government roles.