In the latest episode of Placecast, Dr Nicola Headlam sits down with one of the UK’s most respected place‑based leaders: Kersten England, former Chief Executive of Bradford and York, Chair of the Young Foundation, and Co‑Investigator on the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP).
Across a rich, wide‑ranging conversation, Kersten reflects on her 30‑year career in local government, her early academic foundations, and the lessons she’s learned about building alliances, mobilising evidence, and rewiring the relationship between universities and place.
Placecast is a Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub production based at City-REDI, University of Birmingham. Our new podcast is essential listening for those keen to explore the ins and outs of knowledge mobilisation for influence in central and local government, based on the view that it’s only through animating the power of place-based leadership that the wicked problems of 2026 can become more manageable.
Kersten England CBE is the former Chief Executive of Bradford and York, Chair of the Young Foundation, and Co‑Investigator on the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP).
Passionate about building community, social justice, equality, diversity and healthy democratic practice, her career over four decades has included work in the voluntary and community sector, higher education, central government and more than 30 years in local government.
Dr Nicola Headlam has over 20 years of experience working across all aspects of the multi-helix innovation system, including central and local government, civil society and campaigning, academic research and knowledge mobilisation, and industry. Along the way, she has honed her expertise in urban and regional subnational economic development, the roles of government in shaping place, and in utilising data and evidence for transformation.
In 2024, she became a freelance economic advisor on the role of leadership and partnerships, urban and living lab forms for research, future of cities and foresighting methods, urban transformations, place-branding and urban regeneration and the spatial consequences of public policy.
Find out more about the LPIP Hub.