Sophia Falkner
Research Fellow (2019-2021)
Sophia Falkner was a Research Fellow at Policy Exchange. As part of the Liveable London unit, her main focus is on developing policy solutions for the everyday challenges faced by those who live and work in our capital city. She joined Policy Exchange in 2019 after graduating from the London School of Economics with a BSc in Economic History with Economics. A fluent German speaker, Sophia has previously worked for a financial advisory firm in London and a think tank in Berlin.
Related Publications
Turning down the volume
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Download Publication Excessive noise poses a real and serious risk to human health. Long term exposure to traffic noise is one of the most damaging environmental threats to public health in western Europe, second only to air pollution. Polling of Londoners by Deltapoll for Policy Exchange shows that only eight per cent […]
Knife Crime in the Capital
How gangs are drawing another generation into a life of violent crime Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Download Publication Policy Exchange’s report, Knife Crime in the Capital , reveals the real injustice that at least four out of five gang related homicide victims and perpetrators in London are black or ethnic minority. It confirms that the Metropolitan […]
Daylight Robbery
Research by Policy Exchange finds that fraud and error during the COVID-19 crisis will cost the UK Government in the region of £4.6 billion. The lower bound for the cost of fraud in this crisis is £1.3 billion and the upper bound is £7.9 billion, in light of total projected expenditure of £154.3 billion by the Government (excluding additional expenditure announced in the 8th July 2020 Economic Update). The true value may be closer to the upper bound, due to the higher than usual levels of fraud that normally accompany disaster management.
Policing a pandemic
The Coronavirus pandemic represents the biggest challenge to UK police since the Second World War, according to Richard Walton, Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange and former Head of Counter-Terrorism Command at the Metropolitan Police. The paper – Policing a pandemic, part of a new series from Policy Exchange examining the policy impact of the coronavirus pandemic – recognises that, in the words of the Chief Medical Officer Prof Chris Whitty, the response of the British public to disasters and emergencies tends to be “extraordinary outbreaks of altruism”. It also notes that some aspects of criminal behaviour are very likely to decrease during periods of social distancing, for example alcohol-related disorderly behaviour, including violence that can occur in and around bars, pubs, nightclubs and restaurants, reducing police demand for emergency response calls. But the paper warns of a minority who will exploit the pandemic for criminal purposes and sets out new challenges that are likely to be faced by the police.