Research

This annex to the capping paper from the 2025–26 Heywood Fellowship team sets out an initial agenda for implementing the Building Secure Openness Framework. The portfolio of 12 ‘Pioneer Projects’ touches on a number of global economic order domains, including trade, investment, finance, technology and energy.

These four case studies show examples from the 1960s to the 1980s of when the UK engaged in international industrial collaborations, strategic regulation of new technology and innovated on the relationship between business and the state.

Amidst rising international volatility and financial strain, the UK public wants its government to strike a better balance between an open economy and one which is secure and resilient; and to place greater emphasis on what is in the national interest. 

This paper from the 2025–26 Heywood Fellowship team sets out the contours of that new partnership - including better measurement of what anchors businesses to the UK, joint scenarios and SWOT exercises and a new Global Strategic Industries Group.

This paper from the 2025–26 Heywood Fellowship team sets out that the UK is a pivotal middle power in a contested ages and sets out a way of thinking about this – the middle power mindset – and a playbook the UK should adopt.

Affective polarization is little-studied in systems that present ambiguity in relevant political groups. We assess dynamic patterns in intergroup liking and perceived intelligence over 5 waves of a pre-registered survey conducted before, during, and after the 2022 Brazilian elections.