Matt Oliver
Matt is an Intellectual Forum Senior Research Associate.
Matt Oliver specialises in policy-maker engagement and global health. He is the Chair of Campaigns in Global Health, a Cambridge-based charity dedicated to accelerating uptake of new policies to help improve health around the world.
Matt started his career in the UK parliament, working as a Policy Adviser to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Tuberculosis. He then set up and ran the Global TB Caucus, the world’s largest independent parliamentary network. In 2018, the Global TB Caucus was recognised by the United Nations General Assembly for its contributions to ending TB.
Matt’s interests lie at the intersection of systems theory, various fields of political theory, and global health with a particular focus on infectious diseases.
What are you working on now?
Political prioritisation. At CGH, we’re trying to identify the most effective routes to improve public policy, particularly around infectious disease care and prevention. With so many priorities for political decision-makers to balance, how can we help elevate the policies that are going to have the greatest impact on the greatest areas of need?
Part of our mission, and something I’m hoping to work on with the Intellectual Forum, is to develop resources to help activists and advocates understand the theory that underpins effective campaigning.
How has your career to date led to this?
Entirely by chance. I think people like to think they have a plan but I can’t say that it’s worked out for me that way. Before my career really started I had the opportunity to travel, engage in community projects as a volunteer, and learn languages. I also piggy-backed on my partner working on the Obama campaign.
When I started looking for work, the applications that had the most success were those in global health, and particularly advocacy. So I started working in parliament with an All-Party Parliamentary Group, and after that, tried to create a similar structure, but for the world’s parliamentarians.
Over time, a consistent theme I encountered was that there is no real ‘handbook’ for advocacy or policy-maker engagement. There’s no curriculum or even recognised way of looking at these challenges. That means, in practice, a lot of time is wasted trying to find common approaches between organisations and individuals who already share a common goal. CGH came about as a result of that frustration.
What one thing would you most want someone to learn from what you’ve done or are doing now?
Start with why. Not just in terms of what you choose to spend your career doing, but when it comes to individual activities or initiatives, the stronger and clearer your rationale for acting in a certain way, the better your outcomes will be. All too often, people devote huge amounts of effort to doing things that either 1) don’t need doing or 2) could be delivered differently and more efficiently.
Oh, and really, no one knows anything. The best people have a toolkit for tackling problems and situations but come to it fresh each time with humility and curiosity.
What do you think of Jesus College and the Intellectual Forum?
Big problems are complex problems. They can’t be solved with through one discipline or lens. By bringing together so many people from different backgrounds and disciplines, the Intellectual Forum is a really exciting place to bring new thinking to old problems. I’m honoured to be a (small) part of it.
You can meet the rest of the Intellectual Forum team or contact us via email.
