Ep 15: Osama Rahman

10/11/21 • 43 min

How Did I Get Here? from Discover Economics

Osama Rahman was appointed as the Department for Education’s Director of Analysis and Chief Scientific Adviser in April 2018.

He:

is a member of the Government Economic Service Board
is a member of the Chief Scientific Advisers Network
co-chairs the Departmental Directors of Analysis Network
represents the government’s directors of analysis at the Analysis Function Board

Before joining the Department for Education, Osama spent 14 and a half years at the Ministry of Justice including the Department for Constitutional Affairs before the creation of the MoJ. His most recent role was Director for Analytical Services and Chief Scientific Adviser for 3 and a half years. Prior to that he was Chief Economist for 8 and a half years.

He worked at the Civil Aviation Authority for a year on airports regulation, having spent 10 years as a lecturer and senior lecturer in economics at various UK universities.

DfE Director of Analysis and Chief Scientific Adviser

The Director of Analysis and Chief Scientific Adviser is responsible for:

the provision of analytical and scientific advice to ministers and senior officials, ensuring that the department’s policies and decisions are informed by the best analytical and scientific evidence
leading the department’s analytical and scientific community
working with the wider networks of directors of analysis, Government Economic Service board members, and chief scientific advisers to address cross-departmental issues
leading on the department’s relationship with external researchers and scientists

Osama Rahman was appointed as the Department for Education’s Director of Analysis and Chief Scientific Adviser in April 2018.

He:

is a member of the Government Economic Service Board
is a member of the Chief Scientific Advisers Network
co-chairs the Departmental Directors of Analysis Network
represents the government’s directors of analysis at the Analysis Function Board

He worked at the Civil Aviation Authority for a year on airports regulation, having spent 10 years as a lecturer and senior lecturer in economics at various UK universities.

DfE Director of Analysis and Chief Scientific Adviser

The Director of Analysis and Chief Scientific Adviser is responsible for:

the provision of analytical and scientific advice to ministers and senior officials, ensuring that the department’s policies and decisions are informed by the best analytical and scientific evidence
leading the department’s analytical and scientific community
working with the wider networks of directors of analysis, Government Economic Service board members, and chief scientific advisers to address cross-departmental issues
leading on the department’s relationship with external researchers and scientists

Previous Episode

Ep 14: Lizzy Burden

Lizzy Burden is a reporter at Bloomberg.

She covers the UK economy, including trade, the Bank of England and the Treasury, for Bloomberg.com and The Terminal. She also writes the weekly Beyond Brexit newsletter and contributes to Bloomberg TV, radio, podcasts and Quicktake, the social media channel.

Lizzy is a regular guest on the BBC, Sky News and Times Radio, and hosts events, including for the Confederation of British Industry, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and British American Business.

Listed as one of MHP's 30 under 30 journalists for her city and business coverage, previously she was an economics reporter at The Telegraph, a graduate trainee at The Times, presented CoronaNomics TVand produced BBC Daily Politics.

Before journalism, Lizzy was a fashion model across five continents for eight years.
https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/ATuCHCre-aE/lizzy-burden

Next Episode

Ep 16: Rohin Aggarwal

Rohin is an independent strategy consultant (specialising in education and learning) and founder of an education technology start-up.

The majority of Rohin's professional work experience has been as a strategy consultant first at Monitor Deloitte and then working independently for a variety of firms. His experience has focussed upon public services (including education), healthcare and technology as well as a number of private equity due diligence assignments. Rohin also spent nine months on secondment to Cabinet Office in 2012 in order to scale National Citizen Service.

In 2017, Rohin founded Think Smart with the aim of tackling the career guidance problem. Think Smart uses problem solving that is sourced directly from professionals in a variety of jobs in order to help people at different stages of their career path think about their next steps in a more informed way. He has worked with clients in Europe and Singapore to date. Rohin also used his start-up experience to help found a new generation mortgage lender: Generation Home. It will allow young people to more easily get onto the housing ladder through the concept of group mortgages.

Rohin has long been passionate about education and spent eight years as a governor of MidKent College, a further education provider based in the Maidstone and Medway areas. He supported mainly on board strategy, understanding the students and their holistic needs and all things digital.

Rohin has an MA in Economics from King's College, Cambridge and an MBA from INSEAD where he was lucky enough to study in both France and Singapore.
https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/corporate-governance/board-of-governors/members-of-the-board/rohin-aggarwal/

How Did I Get Here? from Discover Economics - Ep 15: Osama Rahman

Transcript

00:00:00.810

Thank you so much for joining us on discover economics. How did I get here? So just who or what is an economist, there's an economic lens for every topic that you can possibly think of. The economists in our podcast are motivated by a desire to change the world. And their belief that better data and better understanding are key to achieving this change. I'm very excited and enthusiastic about learning more about what economics can offer us as a society. And what are t