Internship with the UKRI policy - Elizabeth O'Leary

Through the flexible funding award, I completed a three-month internship with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) as part of the competitive UKRI policy internship programme. I joined the All Hazards Intelligence (AHI) Global Emerging Hazards team, which is responsible for monitoring and assessing emerging and potential global health threats.

One of the most significant aspects of my internship was joining the “red team” for Exercise Pegasus, the largest pandemic simulation ever conducted in the UK. Our role was to design and run a realistic, evolving pandemic scenario. I produced a series of global situation assessments that were deliberately reverse-engineered to challenge exercise participants around key decisions across the Emergence, Containment, and Mitigation phases. I was also able to use my PhD experience directly, consulting on the design of a viral genome to fit the complex scenario requirements.

I led on global interventions: determining how countries worldwide would respond to the simulated pandemic. This required balancing diplomatic sensitivities with the operational needs of the exercise. To ensure consistency through the exercise, I coordinated with senior civil servants across multiple government departments. In collaboration with the global modelling team, I helped develop a method for integrating international mitigation measures into the transmission model so their effects could be inferred from global case data. Observing exercise play provided a rare opportunity to see my contributions feed directly into Cabinet Office discussions, where COBR shaped the UK’s strategic response. I also had the opportunity to join discussions with representatives from external global health groups, such as the World Health Organization, to gain insight into their perspectives on the coordination of a global response to a new pandemic.

Due to my contributions to the exercise, I was offered the opportunity to extend my placement to six months—an unusual exception within the scheme – and received an in-year award. I am deeply grateful to everyone at AHI Global for providing so many opportunities to learn about the Civil Service and demonstrate my capabilities. The experience has strongly reinforced my interest in returning to government after completing my PhD.