Jess Jenkins

Jess is a senior policy advisor in our Rapid Insights Team – a joint policy venture with Nesta, that brings together new research and expertise from both organisations to address pressing policy challenges. She leads the team’s work on health, and is also currently leading our trial on the use of AI chatbots in public services.

Prior to Nesta, Jess worked at Te Tai Ōhanga (the New Zealand Treasury) where she supported ministers on New Zealand’s first wellbeing budgets, COVID-19 response and recovery, and structural reforms to the health and disability system focused on improving equity, access, and outcomes across Aotearoa. Jess holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Arts and Laws with Honours from Victoria Univeristy of Wellington, where her legal research focused on the treatment of social enterprise in company law and the application of human-centred design to reimagine legislation for citizen understanding and empowerment.