Dr Flavia Galvani on what public leadership requires today

Every night before going to sleep, I read an entry from the diary of Samuel Pepys, the 17th-century English naval administrator who recorded his experiences of politics, public service, and everyday life between 1660 and 1669. And what a decade that was! 

Pepys lived through a period of extraordinary turbulence and transformation: the Restoration of the monarchy after a brutal civil war, the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London, and ongoing wars with the Dutch. It was also a period of significant and often unsettling scientific and philosophical breakthroughs, alongside the excitement and upheaval of global exploration which contributed to an increasingly competitive and unstable international order.

With hindsight, we can see that these tumultuous years helped lay the foundations for the Age of Enlightenment and the progress that would follow. But Pepys’ diary captures what it felt like to live through such change: not only his personal anxieties, but also the moral and practical demands of public service in uncertain times. As a senior naval administrator, he grappled daily with the immense responsibility of making the Navy a more professional and technologically advanced institution, while managing chronic underfunding, bureaucratic dysfunction, and political short-termism.

We too are living through times of great upheaval – and great possibility. Our systems of governance are under strain. We face a climate crisis, deepening inequality, geopolitical tensions and the dizzying advance of AI and technological disruption. It can feel very overwhelming. 

But if history teaches us anything, it is that in moments like these, public leadership matters - especially leadership that is bold enough to imagine better futures, and innovative and collaborative enough to make them a reality.

At the Blavatnik School of Government, we aim to cultivate precisely this kind of leadership.  We are a mission-led School and curate our cohorts with our core values in mind; we seek individuals who demonstrate academic excellence and are driven by curiosity, openness and a desire to serve. Here, you will join a global community of peers and faculty who are deeply committed to public purpose, policy excellence, and collaborative problem-solving, sparking off each other through a shared vocation.

The Master of Public Policy (MPP) is an intense, immersive journey that will challenge and shape you in ways you may not expect. You will engage with a range of academic disciplines, professional knowledge and comparative insights from across the world, and leave the MPP with the analytical, emotional and moral tools to lead and navigate the complexities of public policy. We also hope you will leave the MPP feeling re-energised, with a renewed sense of purpose and a lasting commitment to public service.

Reading Pepys helps me put today’s anxieties in perspective and reminds me that uncertainty and transformation have always been part life. It also reminds me that History is shaped by the choices of those who step forward when it matters. Pepys’ reforms did not just strengthen the Navy in his own turbulent time; they laid the foundations for England’s naval dominance in the centuries that followed. If you’re ready to take on the challenges of your generation, we can’t wait to hear from you!

Applications for the MPP 2026-27 class close on 2 December 2025.