Dr Olga Siemers

Hello, I am Olga. I work at an exciting crossroads of academia, government and business.

As an Associate Professor in Public Policy at King’s College London, I am fortunate to be at the forefront of research at the intersection of government policy, decision-making and risk management in the context of global uncertainty and digital transformation.

Over the years, I have had the privilege of working with leaders in government, private companies and international organisations around the globe – from the UK and Germany to Argentina and Qatar – supporting them in their efforts to innovate and transform. Whether it is providing consultancy, designing capacity-building training or offering executive coaching, I enjoy working closely with clients to understand their specific challenges and develop tailored solutions.

I am a Programme Director of the Executive Master of Public Administration and Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Policymaking programs for mid-career civil servants in the UK. This work keeps me grounded in the real-world challenges policymakers face every day.

Consultancy

Fuel growth

Personalized 1-on-1 coaching

Together, we will discover your untapped potential. With tailored guidance and continuous support, craft a career, business and life of purpose and surpass your greatest dreams.

Tailored workshops

Participate in interactive sessions crafted for your team’s distinct goals. Our workshops promote collaboration, boost leadership and communication skills and elevate teamwork to remarkable achievements.

Capacity-building training

Unlock your team’s potential with tailored capacity-building training focused around your needs, such as leadership and communication; strategic decision-making; or digital transformation.

Empowering masterclasses

Dive into masterclasses designed to reshape mindset challenges and boost both personal and professional success. Focus on a range of topics, such as understanding regulatory landscape; use of generative AI; innovation or civic engagement.

Research and External engagement

Talks, projects and engagement

2025 Data-sharing: The beating heart of a successful public sector. Office for National Statistics and Infrastructure and Projects Authority. PA Consulting Group

2022-25 ESRC/JSPS-funded Research Project assessing Impact of Covid-19 in the UK and Japan

2024 ‘Systems Leadership – moving from theory to practice’ workshop for the UK Home Office

2024 ‘Navigating the unknown. Effective decision-making for uncertain times’ session for the HM Treasury

2024 ‘Managing complex policy challenges and how a systems approach can help’ talk for the Defra Systems Community of Practice

2024 ‘Anticipatory governance and global policy challenges’ programme for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the LIMinal project for the Malta Government, Malta

2024 ‘Boosting public-sector productivity by navigating complexity” talk for the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO)

2023 ‘Politics, democratic governance and sustainable and inclusive growth’ Red de Accion Politica (RAP) Symposium for public officials and political leaders from Argentina

2022 Public Service Executive Education programme for the Qatar Leadership Centre

2022 ‘Policy Development and Empathy’ talk for the UK Government Food Standards Agency

2021 ‘Strategic decision-making’ session for the HM Government Cabinet Office Policy School

Online Courses and training

Unlock your true potential

Embracing Uncertainty. Policymaking in Turbulent Time

This is an online master-level module at King’s College London presenting complexity theory and systems thinking. You will learn how to make better-informed decisions in the face of uncertainty for better outcomes.

Start course

Boosting Public Sector Productivity

Listen to my talk to discover how to make sound choices with incomplete information under ever-changing circumstances to avoid such common pitfalls as unintended consequences and policy resistance. It is a free video on YouTube.

Watch talk

New Participatory Governance Mechanisms for the Public Sector

This course is available free-of-charge via an online learning platform of the Asian Productivity Organisation. You will learn how to engage citizens and stakeholders more effectively in policy design, implementation and evaluation.

Start course

testimonials

Game changer

Olga’s professionalism for the ‘Legislative Drafting’ training was exceptional. Her way to transfer knowledge on such a delicate topic was a game changer. She was able to translate complex legal concepts and make them understandable also to participants who were not familiar with the legislative processes. Olga’s approach to her audience and empathetic listening to everyone’s requests are remarkable and enabled me and my colleagues to achieve great results.

Luigia Ingianni

Commissioner, Qatar Financial Centre

Highly engaging workshop

In 2024 the Home Office Science Directorate launched a leadership programme to support senior leaders develop essential skills. This programme was in alignment with a vision set by the Permanent Secretary. I approached Dr Olga Siemers as I knew her expertise to be of high quality and relevant to Senior Civil Servants. Her presentation on Systems Leadership provided an excellent grounding in this space. As Chair of the group I was particularly struck by Olga’s immediate rapport with the group that led to a highly engaging workshop.

Will Reynolds

Deputy Director, Home Office

Enthusiasm and profesionalism

It has been a pleasure working with Dr Olga Siemers on our ‘Doing Digital for Impact’ study about large-scale transformations of the public sector. Her enthusiasm for this research project with partners from government, industry, and academia together with her astute professionalism translated into an excellent result. The framework and the study’s insights have proven relevant and useful to policymakers and senior government executives to drive public value.

Marc Raum

Partner at Eraneos, Switzerland

Selected publications

Articles and reports

Siemers, O. 2024. Cross-government collaboration for complex policy challenges, UK Civil Service Policy Profession.

Siemers, O. 2024. Systems leadership for the mission-led government, UK Civil Service Policy Profession.

PA Consulting Group. 2025. Data-sharing: The beating heart of a successful public sector, Office for National Statistics and Infrastructure and Projects Authority.

Siemers, O. & Serban, I.D. 2024. Addressing wicked policy problems through cross-government collaboration—Insights from the UK context, Public Money and Management, https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2024.2393242

Raum, M, Stuessi, M, Siemers O. and R. Amplo, 2023. Doing Digital for Impact: Study on Digital Transformation in the Public Sector, Eraneos.

Hughes, D., Luchinskaya, D., Lyonette, C., and Siemers, O., 2017. Gearing Up for STEM: Skills Strategy and Action Plan, Adviza.

Siemers, O., 2016. Skills for here or to take away? Outcomes of academic mobility for expatriate researchers, Journal of international Mobility 2016/1 (N° 4), p. 149-170.

Brambley, W., Siemers, O., Akter, S., Appleyard, L., Aslam, H., Degli Esposti, S., Dibb, S., Monne, J., Morris, J., Nguyen, T., Oliver, M. and Roby, H., 2019. Managing my money for the just about managing. Final Report. Money and Pensions Service.

Watch my P-Talk

testimonials

Clarity and confidence

Dr Olga Siemers did a fantastic job, making the HMT visit to King’s College London in December 2024 a great success. The event brought together leading academics, including Olga herself, to explore key themes such as systems leadership, ethics and integrity, and the challenges of implementing outcomes-focused, cross-cutting policies. Her ability to connect academic insights with real-world policymaking challenges is really valuable, and we greatly appreciate her contributions to shaping new approaches within government policy.

Samuel Marusca

Senior Policy Advisor, HM Treasury

I became more effective

I learned a lot from taking Olga’s course. Learning theories about complex systems really helped me better understand the wicked problems faced by Government and society. This has helped me be a more effective consultant to my Government clients whilst also recognising my own role within those complex systems and the dynamic relationships that exist between Government and its supply chain.

Hannah Shaw

Strategy Principal, Farsight Consulting

Multitude of insights

As part of a cross-government data sharing study our team had an invaluable session on causal loops for data sharing with Olga! It was an incredibly useful way to pull together the multitude of insights we had gathered, and map them out to understand how they all connect and influence each other.

Rory McGrath

Senior Consultant, PA