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The Progressive Policy Think Tank

Fair Transition Unit

Meet the Fair Transition Unit team

Image of Luke Murphy (on leave)

Luke Murphy (on leave)

Head of IPPR's Fair Transition Unit and associate director for the energy, climate, housing and infrastructure team

Luke heads IPPR’s Fair Transition Unit and leads the energy, climate, housing and infrastructure team.

Before joining IPPR in 2016, Luke worked in parliament, the voluntary sector and the private sector. Luke has worked for the Labour party as a policy and political adviser for a shadow secretary of state and successive shadow housing ministers leading their work on housing, also working on local government and devolution. He has worked on policy and advocacy projects for the Living Wage Foundation and a leading housing association. Luke also has significant experience in communications and campaigning.

Luke is an experienced media performer and contributor. He has appeared on national broadcast media, including BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 2, BBC News and Channel 4 Dispatches, and has written for a range of newspapers including the Guardian, the Times and the Independent, and for other outlets including the New Statesman and HuffPost.

Luke holds an MSc in international politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, and a BSc in politics and economics from the University of Bath.

Luke has experience across a wide range of public policy issues including:

  • climate
  • energy
  • housing
  • local government
  • property taxation

Luke is on temporary leave of absence from October 19, 2023

Image of Becca Massey-Chase (on leave)

Becca Massey-Chase (on leave)

Principal research fellow and co-head of participative research

Becca is a principal research fellow and co-head of participative research at IPPR.

With Stephen Frost, she leads on participative research at IPPR, developing and using participatory methods and deliberative democracy to co-create policy solutions. Stephen and Becca were formerly co-deputy head of the Environmental Justice Commission, leading the commission’s citizens’ juries across the UK. Based in the energy, climate, housing and infrastructure team, Becca has a particular interest in a just transition for transport. She is also an experienced media contributor and panellist.

Becca joined IPPR from Sustrans, where, as head of strategy and governance, she led the development of a UK-wide strategy responding to the inequalities present in how people travel and the related challenges to health, communities and the environment.

Prior to joining Sustrans, Becca was a regional manager in the RSA’s fellowship team. Her professional and voluntary background also includes youth leadership development, interfaith and intercultural relations, human rights education and campaigning, working with unaccompanied minors seeking asylum and providing a listening service for women in distress.

Becca’s main areas of expertise include:

  • citizen engagement and facilitation
  • participative research methods
  • transport, particularly active travel
  • strategy development and charity governance
  • social change.

Becca is currently on leave. 
Stephen Frost's normal working days are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Image of Stephen Frost

Stephen Frost

Principal research fellow and co-head of participative research

Stephen is a principal research fellow and co-head of participative research at IPPR.

With Becca Massey-Chase, he leads on participative research at IPPR, developing and using participatory methods and deliberative democracy to co-create policy solutions. Becca and Stephen were formerly co-deputy head of the Environmental Justice Commission, leading the commission’s citizens’ juries across the UK. Based in the energy, climate, housing, and infrastructure team, Stephen has a particular interest in a just transition for transport.

Before joining IPPR, Stephen was the head of the research and monitoring unit at walking and cycling charity Sustrans, and led the development of the organisation’s strategy for achieving ‘liveable cities and towns for everyone’. He is highly experienced in a wide range of evaluation, appraisal and research methods relevant to making the case for active travel and improvements to the public realm. 

Prior to joining Sustrans, Stephen worked as the voluntary sector and community development lead for the London Borough of Hounslow and for a range of social enterprises and charities focussed on social action and increasing public participation in decision making. 

He has experience across a wide range of public policy areas, including:

  • participatory decision-making
  • community development
  • voluntary, community and social enterprise sector
  • research and evaluation best practice
  • active travel and designing places for reduced car use.

Stephen's normal working days are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Becca Massey-Chase's normal working days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

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Lesley Rankin

Researcher

Lesley is a researcher working on environmental policy, with a focus on nature and land use.

Lesley has a particular interest in qualitative methods. She has worked on projects across IPPR’s environmental policy areas, with a strong thread of justice running throughout. Lesley has written for a range of publications and her research has generated front-page headlines.

On sabbatical in 2019 Lesley was on sabbatical at the European Parliament in Brussels, working on the Green New Deal at the European level. Lesley holds an MSc in international relations from the University of Edinburgh, and a BA in French and German from the University of Exeter.

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Joshua Emden

Senior research fellow

Josh’s work at IPPR focusses on developing just transition policy across all sectors of the economy. He is the programme lead for heat decarbonisation, industrial decarbonisation and green jobs and skills.

Josh has previously worked on renewable generation, energy networks and systems and implementation strategies that include devolved and local governance.

He is a regular commentator on climate, energy and just transition policy appearing on national news and radio including BBC News, Sky News and LBC. He has also written on the subject for Huffington Post, Red Box, Business Green and Energy Monitor, among others.

Josh holds an MSc with distinction in environmental technology from Imperial College London and a BA in classics from the University of Cambridge.

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Emma Killick

Senior programme and stakeholder officer

Emma is currently coordinating the work of the IPPR Environmental Justice Commission (EJC).

Emma’s work for the EJC includes coordinating the citizens’ jury meetings, project managing the research programme and communicating with stakeholders.

Prior to joining the EJC, Emma managed the output and communicated the activities of the Centre for Economic Justice and the Commission on Economic Justice.

Emma joined IPPR in January 2018, bringing with her a range of experience in campaigning, communications and administration. Before joining IPPR, Emma was senior communications officer for the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, a membership organisation working to develop ICTs throughout the Commonwealth. She has also worked as a public affairs officer for Shelter and Greenpeace.