Dr Oliver Escobar is Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Edinburgh, and Co-Director of What Works Scotland, a large research program to support and improve public services. Oliver’s areas of research, teaching and practice are participatory democracy, public dialogue and deliberation, and collaborative policy-making.

He is Public Engagement Fellow at the Beltane Network, co-founder and Honorary Researcher at QMU’s Centre for Dialogue, Trustee of Democratic Audit UK, a Steward of So Say Scotland, and Director of ClimateXChange’s Citizens’ Juries. Oliver coordinates the Citizen Participation Network at the Academy of Government, has worked with hundreds of public engagement practitioners, and is involved in developing democratic innovations across various policy arenas in Scotland and beyond.