UKRI Chief of Investment Planning and Strategy
Hugh Harris
Hugh Harris and Dan Shah were appointed Chief of Investment Planning and Strategy (jobshare) at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in February 2025. They lead UKRI’s Investment Planning and Strategy (IPS) Group, which works across UKRI, with external stakeholders, and with the UK government to:
- advise on UKRI’s overall investment strategy
- lead on our Spending Review bid and allocations
- create high quality analysis to enable UKRI to make better policy, strategy and funding decisions to maximise impact
- better understand how research system design impacts on sustainability and the implications for the long-term vision for research and development in the UK
- develop our corporate strategy, plans and supporting performance frameworks
- ensure that UKRI operates best practice throughout its secretariat and private office arrangements
- deliver robust and well-evidenced advice to Executive Chairs, the CEO and UKRI’s Board, enabling them to advise Ministers on their biggest strategic investment choices around research and development
Hugh joined UKRI in February 2025 from the Department of Health and Social Care, where he held the role of Director for Ministers, Accountability and Strategy. He has extensive wider senior Civil Service experience, including at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, HM Treasury, the Number 10 Policy Unit and the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit.
Earlier in his career he worked as an assistant director with NM Rothschild and Sons, as a senior adviser at the Confederation of British Industry and as a deputy editor of The Economist’s World in 1998. He started his career as an economic adviser at HM Treasury. He holds degrees from the Harvard Kennedy School and Magdalen College, Oxford. He lives in London.
Last updated: 18 June 2025