Policy Fellowship for Kate Owen

Chief Executive Officer, Civil Service Commission (view profile)

Chief Executive Officer, Civil Service Commission

Policy Fellow, Centre for Science and Policy

Kate is Chief Executive Officer of the Civil Service Commission, the body which regulates entry into the Civil Service and advises on exits. She is also responsible for the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Kate’s Civil Service experience includes HM Treasury, Cabinet Office, the Prime Minister’s Office and various spending departments including the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Prior to the Civil Service, Kate worked in the charity sector and as a mergers and acquisitions solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills. She was a member of the first Cambridge MPP class.

Questions

  • 1. How is AI evolving in supporting organisational decision making and how might its organisational use develop over the next 2-3 years?
  • 2. My organisations (the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments) currently use AI to assist with administrative tasks such as populating templates with bespoke information, carrying out basic drafting tasks. We are also starting to build ways for it to access a precedent bank. I can see considerable potential for it to do much more, in particular by improving the judgements, consistency and speed of our decision making in ethics and integrity cases, and would like to explore this as part of the Fellowship. By way of example, OCPA considers cases in relation to alleged breaches of the Governance Code on Public Appointments and the Civil Service Commission in relation to the Business Appointments Rules, the Civil Service Code and the Recruitment Principles.
  • 3. What is the appropriate balance between automated decision support and human judgment in ethics and integrity cases and recruitment into the civil service? How can we ensure that AI augments rather than replaces professional discretion?
  • 4. What are the risks associated with using AI in these circumstances? For example, there may be negative reputational implications in having judgements made by non-human agents. There may be data security and protection issues in addition to security risks. Whilst AI may be a way of driving headcount and budget savings, it may have negative implications in staff training and development if we remove our talent pipeline at lower grades. There are also risks that much like a human, an AI agent may make a decision that is subject to subsequent successful challenge.
  • 5. What skills, institutional capacities, and governance arrangements are required within the Civil Service Commission and similar organisations to deploy, monitor, and interpret AI tools responsibly and effectively?

  • 22 Feb 2026 14:00

    Check in to accommodation

    Westminster College

    Reception is staffed 7am to 7pm Monday to Sunday and can be reached on 01223 33 06 30. Emails to accommodation@westminster.cam.ac.uk are monitored during office hours.

    If you require parking but have not booked this, our charge is £20 per 24 hours.

    Check in is from 2pm onwards on the day of arrival. You are welcome to collect your room keys from Reception between 2pm to Midnight. If you arrive before 2pm, the room may not be ready, though you are welcome to use the car park subject to parking charges and availability. Arrivals after midnight can be accommodated by prior arrangement.

    Check out is by 10am on the day of departure. On your departure, please leave windows open and return the key back to the Reception or the Key Deposit Box outside Reception.

    If you need any urgent assistance with anything during your time here with us, whilst Reception is closed, the Duty Manager can be contacted on 07514 958 481.

    Westminster College, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0AA
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  • 22 Feb 2026 18:00

    Meeting with Dr Julian Huppert, Director of the Intellectual Forum, Jesus College, Cambridge

    jlh29@cam.ac.uk

    Evensong in the Chapel - a lovely musical event, starting at 6, with a sermon (Seamus Heaney: Hoping for Peace, Longing for Reconciliation, The Rt Rev’d Andrew Forster, Bishop of Derry & Raphoe) - followed by High Table dinner

    Jesus College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB5 8BL.
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  • 23 Feb 2026 08:40 – 09:00

    Meeting with Rebecca Brodie, Policy Fellowships Coordinator, Centre for Science and Policy

    r.brodie@jbs.cam.ac.uk

    Introduction with CSaP to run through your programme and a chance to ask any questions.

    Fitzbillies Cafe, 51-53 Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1RG. Please meet in the cafe section on the right hand side (the corner of Trumpington and Pembroke streets)
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    Directions to next meeting: 5 minute walk.

  • 23 Feb 2026 09:00 – 10:00

    Meeting with Dr Giulio Corsi, Research Fellow, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence

    gc540@cam.ac.uk

    Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, 16 Mill Ln, Cambridge, CB2 1SB.
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    Directions to next meeting: 10 minute walk.

  • 23 Feb 2026 10:30 – 11:00

    Meeting with Dr Charlotte Sausman, Associate Director for Policy Fellowships, Centre for Science and Policy

    c.sausman@jbs.cam.ac.uk

    Coffee with Charlotte Sausman

    Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) office, 10 Trumpington St (Brook House), Cambridge, CB2 1QA. Please ring the buzzer (or phone 07817 293 197) to be let into the building.
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  • 23 Feb 2026 12:00 – 13:00

    Meeting with Dr Alexandru Marcoci, Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham; Research Fellow, AI Risk and Foresight, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk

    am3159@cam.ac.uk

    LUNCH at Browns with Alexandru Marcoci. A table has been booked for 12 noon under the name: Rebecca Brodie, CSAP.

    Browns Restaurant, 23 Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1QA
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    Directions to next meeting: 15 minute walk.

  • 23 Feb 2026 13:30 – 14:30

    Meeting with Professor Catherine Barnard, Professor of European Union Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge

    csb24@cam.ac.uk

    Room F3 Great Court, Trinity College, Cambridge CB2 1TQ. Please ask for directions at the Porter's Lodge.
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    Directions to next meeting: 10 minute walk.

  • 23 Feb 2026 15:00 – 16:00

    Meeting with Professor Ann Kristin Glenster, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH); Executive Director, Glenlead Centre.

    akg48@cam.ac.uk

    Fitzbillies Cafe, 51-53 Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1RG. Please meet in the cafe section on the right hand side (the corner of Trumpington and Pembroke streets)
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    Directions to next meeting: 20 minute walk.

  • 23 Feb 2026 16:30 – 17:00

    Meeting with Professor David Erdos, Professor of Law and the Open Society, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge

    doe20@cam.ac.uk

    Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, 5 Cranmer Rd, Cambridge, CB3 9BL. Please meet in reception.
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  • 24 Feb 2026 08:30

    Check out of accommodation

    Directions to next meeting: CSaP to arrange taxi to pick up at 08:30.

  • 24 Feb 2026 09:00 – 10:00

    Meeting with Dr Advait Sarkar , Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research Cambridge

    advait@microsoft.com

    Microsoft Research Cambridge, 21 Station Rd, Cambridge, CB1 2FB. Please meet in reception.
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    Directions to next meeting: 20 minute walk.

    Or you could pick up a taxi at the rank outside the train station, the choice is yours.

  • 24 Feb 2026 10:30 – 11:15

    Meeting with Kieran Garvey, Policy Programme Manager, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Judge Business School and Bryan Zheng Zhang, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

    k.garvey@jbs.cam.ac.uk zz251@cam.ac.uk

    MS Teams call with Bryan Zheng Zhang and Kieran Garvey. To be taken from room S3.06.

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    Microsoft Teams meeting

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    Cambridge Judge Business School

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    Cambridge Judge Business School, Trumpington St, Cambridge, CB2 1AG. To be taken from room S3.06. Please meet at reception to be escorted to the meeting room.
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  • 24 Feb 2026 11:15 – 13:00

    Lunch break

    Directions to next meeting: 20 minute walk.

    It's a 20 min walk from the city centre out to the Sidgwick Site.

  • 24 Feb 2026 13:30 – 14:30

    Meeting with Dr Hugo Leal, Research Associate, Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy

    hjl51@cam.ac.uk

    Faculty of English, 9 West Rd, Cambridge, CB3 9DP. Please meet in reception.
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    Directions to next meeting: 20 minute walk.

  • 24 Feb 2026 15:00 – 16:00

    Meeting with Dr Aleksei Turobov, Assistant Professor, Bennett School of Public Policy

    at2129@cam.ac.uk

    Cambridge Judge Business School, Trumpington St, Cambridge, CB2 1AG. Room S3.06 booked. Please meet at reception to be taken to your meeting room.
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    Directions to next meeting: 20 minute walk.

  • 24 Feb 2026 16:00

    Leave Cambridge

  • 25 Feb 2026

    Meeting with Rebecca Brodie, Policy Fellowships Coordinator, Centre for Science and Policy

    r.brodie@jbs.cam.ac.uk

    Feedback session with CSaP.

    To be held online at a time and date to be agreed.

  • 27 Feb 2026 10:30 – 11:30

    CANCELLED

    jimnorton@btinternet.com

    Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) office, 10 Trumpington St (Brook House), Cambridge, CB2 1QA. Please ring the buzzer (or phone 07817 293 197) to be let into the building.
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    Directions to next meeting: 2 minute walk.