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The Bennett Institute for Public Policy Annual Conference 2024 created an opportunity for some of our leading practitioners, academic thinkers and policy experts to engage with each other in productive and wide-angled conversations about some of the most pressing challenges facing governments around the world.
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Download the full conference programme.
Welcome
Professor Michael Kenny, Professor of Public Policy and inaugural Director of the Bennett Institute, welcomes delegates to the Conference 2024. He is joined by the Institute’s founding benefactor, Peter Bennett, Peter Bennett Foundation, who highlights the research impacting public policy today.
Disruption: What actions are needed to respond to the social, economic and geopolitical disruptions being caused by significant technological innovations in areas such as AI and biomedicine? And how can policymakers not only manage the risks but also ensure the new technologies benefit society as a whole?
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Experts discuss how the current disruption materialises socially, economically, and geopolitically.
With Emran Mian, Director General for Digital Technologies and Telecoms, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), Prof Gina Neff, Executive Director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy, University of Cambridge, Brittany Smith, UK Policy and Partnerships Lead, OpenAI, and Prof Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy and Co-Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
Infrastructure: What infrastructure does society need and what policies can deliver it?
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With Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Member of Parliament for Tunbridge Wells, and former Minister for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in 2022, Prof Jennifer Schooling, Professor of Digital Innovation and Smart Places at ARU (Anglia Ruskin University), Giles Wilkes, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government, and Prof Michael Kenny, Professor of Public Policy and inaugural Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
Resilience: What do our institutions need to do to make the UK more resilient?
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Guest speakers explore the investment priorities for building economic, political, and social resilience, even in the face of climate change, inflation, war and inequality, and suggest real-world policy solutions.
With Catherine Little, Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office, Dr Gillian Tett, Provost, King’s College, Cambridge, and Journalist, Financial Times, Dr Anna Valero, Distinguished Policy Fellow and Director of the Growth Programme, London School of Economics’ Centre for Economic Performance, and Dr Matthew Agarwala, Economist, Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
Governance: How should the Civil Service be reformed/reimagined for the 21st century?
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Guest speakers capture the essence of what the Civil Service is now for and what we want it to be able to do.
With Dr Anjana Ahuja, Financial Times, Jonathan Slater, Visiting Professor at King’s College London and Queen Mary University London and former Permanent Secretary, Dr Hannah White, Director, Institute for Government, and Prof Dennis C. Grube, Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, and Research Lead in Political Decision-Making, Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
Keynote lecture: Fixing our broken food system: where policy meets politics
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Keynote speaker, Henry Dimbleby, discusses how, through collaboration and innovation, he continues to commit to transforming the food landscape. He is joined in conversation by Prof Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge.
Closing remarks
Prof Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy and Co-Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, shares the highlights of the Annual Conference 2024.