Meet the team
Find contact details and information regarding all members of staff in the Policy Unit.
Graham Hitchen
Policy Unit Director
Graham is Director of the Loughborough University Policy Unit and a senior member of the London School, where he is Professor of Practice within the Institute for Media and Creative Industries. He is also co-Director of the Creative Research and Innovation Centre (CRAIC) at Loughborough London, and until recently he was working with the Industrial Strategy team at UKRI. He has considerable experience of public policy development and engagement nationally and in London government.
Graham leads the work of the Policy Unit, promoting policy engagement and policy impact across the University.
Charlotte Hamilton
Policy Unit Manager
Charlotte studied at The Open University and The University of York, where she was awarded a PhD in Social Policy. She has experience in research, and research support, roles across a range of Higher Education Institutions before joining Loughborough University in 2022 as its Policy Unit Manager. Charlotte is responsible for the operations of the Policy Unit, working with researchers and professional services teams across the University.
Paddy Smith
Senior Public Affairs Manager
Paddy joined the Policy Unit as the Senior Public Affairs Manager in May 2023, and is responsible for building relationships and connecting Loughborough’s researchers with external stakeholders in the policy world, including politicians, civil servants, think tanks and lobbying organisations. Before joining Loughborough, he worked for CIPD, the professional body for HR, where he lobbied on issues relating to a fairer workplace, including leading an award-winning campaign to push government to legislate to make the right to request flexible working a day-one right. He also spent eighteen months working in the House of Commons as a researcher for an MP. He holds a BA in History and MA in History of International Relations from University College Dublin.
Sandy Robertson
Policy Communications Officer
Sandy grew up in Scotland and studied at The University of Edinburgh and The Open University. In his previous role, he worked for a Member of the Scottish Parliament and joined Loughborough University as Policy Communications Officer for the Policy Unit in August 2023. He works with research teams across the university to assist in the creation of briefing papers, blogs, and digital content to promote and enhance the University’s reputation at a local and national level.