Wellbeing and Public Policy

With rising academic, public and political interest in wellbeing, more and more government officials are considering using wellbeing research to inform their policy decisions. This conference will promote interdisciplinary dialogue on how wellbeing research might best be applied to policymaking. Several interrelated issues will be addressed (more detail on these topic below):

• What should the role of wellbeing and wellbeing research be in policymaking?
• How should wellbeing be defined for research and policymaking?
• How should wellbeing be measured for research and policymaking?
• What role, if any, should subjective measures of wellbeing play in policymaking and national accounts?
• What evidence is there on policies that improve wellbeing?

The third day of the conference will be dedicated to invitation only high-level workshops focused on specific topics, including:

• Which measures of subjective wellbeing (if any) should feature in national accounts of wellbeing?
• Poor but satisfied.  Does subjective wellbeing have a place in addressing disadvantage?
• Gross National Happiness and other policy frameworks that look beyond the accumulation of wealth
• How can research on subjective wellbeing actually inform policymaking?
• How can we best measure the wellbeing of children?

Keynote speakers include:

• Andrew Clark (http://www.parisschoolofeconomics.com/clark-andrew/)
• Robert Cummins (http://www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/psychology/staffprofiles.php?username=cummins)
• Paul Frijters (http://www.uq.edu.au/~uqpfrijt/index.html)
• Robert MacCulloch (http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/r.macculloch)

There is a limited number of places available at the conference, and especially at the workshops, so we advise registering your interest in coming as soon as possible.

To ask questions or register your interest, contact the conference team:
[email protected]

For more details, visit our conference website: