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About Nesta

Nesta is a research and innovation foundation. We apply our deep expertise in applied methods to design, test and scale solutions to some of the biggest challenges of our time, working across the innovation lifecycle.

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Fiona McFarlane

Policy Advisor, Nesta Scotland

Fiona McFarlane Fiona McFarlane

Fiona McFarlane

Policy

Andy Regan Angela Mitchell Ikhlas Merabti Julia Blom Livia Katz Rachel Carter Sara Elias Tess Wright Tim Leunig Tom Gunter Tom Leach

Scotland

Angela Mitchell Frances Bain Josh Jackson Linda Macdonald Robin Parker

Fiona is a policy advisor at Nesta in Scotland.

She has a background in law and policy and began her career as a barrister representing children involved in the criminal justice system. Before joining Nesta, she was the Director for Scotland at Place2Be, a children’s mental health charity. Prior to that, she led public affairs for The Promise Scotland and managed the policy and publication process for the key outputs of the Independent Care Review.

Browse content from Fiona McFarlane

Why the 2026 election must focus on our smallest citizens

Blog
05.02.26

Also in Scotland

Angela Mitchell

Head of Nesta Scotland

Frances Bain

Mission Manager (Scotland), healthy life mission

Josh Jackson

Analyst, sustainable future mission

Linda Macdonald

Mission Manager (Scotland), fairer start mission

Robin Parker

Mission Manager (Scotland), sustainable future mission

A powerful ecosystem for innovation

We extend our impact through two specialised units that help people and organisations to solve complex problems and achieve their goals.

BIT

BIT helps clients from government, nonprofits and the private sector to improve people’s lives through our empirical problem solving and deep understanding of human behaviour.

Challenge Works

Challenge Works designs and runs challenge prizes to spark innovation in science, technology and society.

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