Julian Huppert, the former Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, has returned to a role as a University Lecturer at the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) for the next academic year. Huppert previously held a University Lectureship in Physics, before being granted leave in order to perform his duties as an MP, and is now being seconded to POLIS.

Huppert, after losing his seat in the general election in May this year, will be involved with the Master’s in Public Policy, which was added to POLIS’s curriculum in 2013. The course aims to strengthen “the interconnections between science, research and innovation in public policy.”

The former MP said that his role also involves training “policy leaders of the future” in “how to make sensible policies.” He will lead a module based on the scientific method and evidence, believing the latter to be crucial to “drive what is done by governments”.
A POLIS spokesperson told Varsity that Huppert would be “tasked with widening our policy networks” amongst his other duties.

Huppert will be conducting his own research into the use of evidence within policy making. He is also thought to be studying the nature and role of privacy in the modern world.

“I’ve been working for many years on privacy in our digital age – including successfully leading the fight against the so-called Snooper’s Charter – and will use this time to develop that further,” Huppert told Varsity.

Huppert will also help out with other graduate teaching, and will be reflecting on May’s general election result in a talk to Clare Politics Society on 27th October.