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Policy Fellows discuss the policy challenges

Funded by the ESRC, CSaP's Policy Challenges initiative addresses high-priority public policy issues identified by our Policy Fellows.

Policy Challenge workshops bring together academic experts with stakeholders from government, business and civil society to provide senior decision makers with fresh insights on, and practical recommendations for, some of the problems they face. The Policy Challenges Briefings have a specific remit: to encapsulate the insights provided by an interdisciplinary group of researchers on these policy problems.

Behavioural insights into emergency planning and response

Initiated by GO-Science, this Challenge looks at how the behavioural sciences can help policy makers gain a better understanding of the way people behave in an emergency situation, and therefore be better prepared for a national emergency. The first Policy Challenge Briefing was launched at the CSaP Annual Conference on 10 April 2014.

Climate resilience in the built environment

The key question driving this Challenge is how policy makers might better understand the effects of climate change on cities and urbanised and urbanising populations, and reflect on the adaptation of existing built environments and modes of governance. The briefing was launched on 21 January at a distinguished debate at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Ageing and public health

Addressing the impacts and opportunities of an ageing population, this Challenge investigated what a future ageing society might look like, the benefits to society, and the implications for policy. The briefing was launched at the CSaP Annual Conference in Cambridge on 14 April 2015.

Data science

The availability of large government datasets, and the tools to link and analyse them, offer huge potential for governments to improve the delivery and implementation of public services. Enabling this step-change in the way we use data requires not only that new techniques be developed to link and analyse datasets but also that governments consider the accessibility of their data for research and the challenges this poses in terms of public acceptability. The briefing was launched at the international conference "Policy making in an era of big data" in Cambridge on 15 June 2015.


For more information on the Policy Challenges initiative, please contact:

Dr Moira Faul
policychallenges@csap.cam.ac.uk

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