Shamit Saggar


Shamit Saggar FAcSS is professor of public policy at the University of Western Australia where he is also Director of the . He is also , and .
His scholarship primarily concerns public policy and politics with specialist knowledge of migration, regulation, violent extremism, political participation and social cohesion. He has held senior roles in government, regulation, commerce, non-profits and philanthropy.
He is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences, and in 2017 he was appointed a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to social science and public policy.

Earlier career

He was previously associate pro-vice-chancellor at the University of Essex, Director of the and a professor of political science at the , University of Essex. He was previously professor of political science at the University of Sussex; an ESRC Knowledge Exchange Fellow in the UK Home Office; a Yale World Fellow at Yale University; Senior Advisor at the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office, HM Government; and reader in political behaviour at Queen Mary, University of London. He was a Harkness Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a lecturer in public policy at the University of Liverpool. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Toronto and Menzies Fellow at the Australian National University.

Public leadership

He has taken an active part in board leadership roles, including:
He has held advisory roles with:
  • Unbound Philanthropy
  • Demos
  • Policy Exchange
  • Institute for Public Policy Research
  • Special Advisor to the Commonwealth Secretariat/Sen Commission
  • Special Advisor to House of Common's Speaker's Conference on Parliamentary Representation

    Research

His early work led to the publication of ' that provided new insights on UK voting behaviour and role of the ethnicity as a source of political difference and policy choice. He later published ' that systematically examined the causes of radicalisation among western Muslim groups and traced this understanding to the efficacy of different policy strategies open to democratic governments.
The author of six books, over 60 articles in scientific journals and 20 major policy reports, he has also been a frequent op-ed contributor to UK, US and Australian newspapers. His regularly collaborates with prominent think-tanks – for example, ', setting out the case for a pro-active role among market and public service regulators, and ',, highlighting the practical way forward for boards in ensuring reputational fairness in senior jobs.

Selected publications