The Centre for Science and Policy hosted a seminar on how ALBs were used in the COVID-19 response, as part of its Policy Fellow series on the government’s use of data, science, and evidence. Speakers Matthew Gill and Grant Dalton, from the Institute for Government, outlined their research on the interface between health focused ALBs and central government during the pandemic.

As part of the CSaP Policy Fellow seminar series on government’s use of data, science and evidence, Mark Enzer, Chief Technical Officer for Mott MacDonald and Director of the Centre for Digital Built Britain, led a discussion on how data science can be used to inform infrastructure policy.

The Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) held a workshop on social infrastructure at the British Academy. It was organised in partnership with the British Academy, the Bennett Institute of Public Policy, and Power to Change. The attendees were academics, advocates, policymakers, and researchers with expertise in social infrastructure policy.

With weeks to go until COP26, CSaP's Executive Director Rob Doubleday talks to two of Cambridge's leading economists Dr Matthew Agarwala and Dr Cristina Peñasco, about what leaders need to know and do, to delivery a clean, green recovery. The event was hosted as part of the University of Cambridge's Alumni Festival 2021.

Healthcare is one of the largest contributors to the UK’s total carbon footprint. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the NHS experienced a rapid change in the delivery of healthcare: can this sense of critical urgency be harnessed and applied to the decarbonisation of the National Health Service?

Could climate change or deforestation cause the next pandemic? In the final episode of our series on Science, Policy and a Green Recovery, host Dr Rob Doubleday and guest host Kate McNeil explore the links between planetary health and human health. Throughout the episode, they hear about how human activity is placing pressure on the natural world and how that can influence the risks posed by zoonotic and vector-borne diseases. They also address how unsustainable human activities and climate change are contributing threats to human health from non-communicable diseases and as a consequence of natural disasters.

What would an agricultural soil plan for the UK look like and which measures would we use to monitor its effectiveness? Do we know enough about soil and soil health indicators to be able to operationalize policies that would ensure that soil health is looked after and which would ensure that land gives us the kind of benefits that we collectively decide we want?

Professor Sarah Curtis discussed place and social cohesion at the first in a series of workshops on cohesive societies hosted by CSaP and the British Academy.

CSaP's Policy Workshop, held in collaboration with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and Grow Wild, brought together practitioners, residents, academics and local government officials together at Eastbury Manor House to discuss the best uses of small pockets of urban green space.

The first session at CSaP's annual conference was chaired by Dr Helen Munn, Director of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and included world leading experts on behaviour change from the University of Cambridge, UCL and Defra.