In the first of the 2021 Bennett Institute 'Levelling up' seminar series we frame the discussion of what levelling up has been historically, and establish what can be done in the future to help increase regional economic equality in the UK.

In the first seminar of the 2021 Christ's College Climate Seminar Series, we explored how to frame action and inaction on issues such as public health and climate change, and examined how to increase the likelihood that effective action will be taken.

CSaP brought together early career researchers and civil servants from the Department of Transportation for a professional development workshop which explored various aspects of the policymaking process including the role of science in policymaking, the role of the learned societies in UK policy processes, and questions arising during policy appraisal processes.

As part of CSaP’s ongoing lunchtime seminar series on resilience, in December 2020 policy fellows heard from Nesta’s Eliza Easton, who led a discussion on how the concept of resilience has been used in policies for the creative economy.

In the autumn of 2020, CSaP convened a workshop which brought together senior government representatives, senior academics, and practitioners from across the British Overseas Territories (BOTs) and the United Kingdom. This workshop was designed as an opportunity for knowledge exchange, and as a chance to examine some of the key policy priorities facing the Overseas Territories.

What steps can we take to improve personal resilience? How can organisations help to improve the personal resilience of their teams during periods of crisis?

Our sixth resilience seminar introduced CSaP Policy Fellow James Cemmell, Vice President of UK space organisation, Inmarsat. Alongside his colleague, Dr. Mark Dickinson – an expert on space, engineering and procurement – James revealed the importance of resilience to space projects, which have always been high cost, high stakes, and logistically complex endeavours. Almira Zejnilagic, Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting, spoke later in this session, detailing her work on risk investigations in the Middle East and Africa.

In our fifth resilience seminar, Bill Hodson spoke to attending Policy Fellows about organisational resilience. Bill is the incumbent consulting director at Cambridge Consultants, and former business director at Fraser Nash consultancy.

In November 2020, public health professionals, academics, and policymakers gathered to discuss the future of prevention work at a workshop and webinar jointly hosted by the East of England Population Health Research Hub, the NIHR ARC East of England, and the Centre for Science and Policy. These events were designed to inform support for action on longer-term investment for prevention.

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.