The Cambridge University Government Policy Program (CUGPOP) was set up in 1998 following discussions between a small group of Cambridge academics who redognised the invaluable contribution that academia could offer policy makers in Westminster and Whitehall.

CUGPOP's core committee included Professor Sir Gabriel Horn (chair), Lord Eatwell, Professor Bob Hepple, Professor Sir David King and Lord Rees. Lord Eatwell and Lord Rees went on to serve on CSaP's Executive Committee between 2008 and 2015.

CUGPOP held bi-annual seminars which were designed to inform and promote debate in a unique setting on matters of immediate importance to policy making. Topics included climate change, food security and genetic cloning.

CUGPOP was a great success. From Cambridge-centric beginnings it grew into a major conduit of knowledge exchange between academia and government, attracting speakers from across the UK and beyond. Seminars were attended by ministers, senior advisers and civil servants, and received funding from the Royal Society and the Office of Science and Innovation, among others. In its interdisciplinary approach to a diverse range of issues, it paved the way for how CSaP operates.

Summaries of CUGPOP's seminars, including lists of papers presented, can be found below:

1. From cloning and genetic immortality to super-bugs and premature death: medicine, society and the development of government policy (6 November 1998).
2. Managing Knowledge: Information Technology and the Future of Public Policy (23 April 1999).
3. Uncertainty, science and the environment: implications for government policy (8 October 1999).
4. The dynamic earth: wealth and waste. Threats and opportunities for the United Kingdom (12 May 2000).
5. Age and senescence: biological and medical developments and their implications for society and the economy (6 October 2000).
6. Food: need, safety and availability (6 March 2001).
7. Drugs of addiction: biological, medical, legal and ethical aspects (2 November 2001).
8. Nanotechnology: exploiting the millimicro (26 April 2002).
9. Cancer: Causes, cures and costs (4 October 2002).
10. Communications Technology - Extending the Limits (16 May 2003).
11. A meeting of minds: artificial and biological cognitive systems (10 October 2003).
12. Human Reproduction: Selecting for Life: Scientific Basis and Policy Implications (23 April 2004).
13. Water - the next fifty years (8 October 2004).
14. Space: Exploration and Exploitation (8 April 2005).
15. Stem Cells: Science, Prospect and Promise (9 June 2006).
16. Migration (30 March 2007).