Event:Wellbeing and Public Policy Conference

From Wikiprogress.org

See website for outline 13-15 June 2012 Rutherford House, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.

The Wellbeing and Public Policy Conference will bring world experts and policymakers together in order to discuss recent advances in wellbeing research and their application to policymaking at all levels of government.

International interest in assimilating wellbeing outcomes more explicitly into policymaking was greatly stimulated by the ‘Stiglitz Report’ and continues to grow rapidly. Indeed, the incorporation of non-economic wellbeing measures into national-level policymaking will be discussed at a high-level meeting of the United National General Assembly in April this year.

This conference will be the first of its kind held in New Zealand and will ensure that New Zealand policymakers can benefit from international progress on the intersection of research on wellbeing and public policy. This conference will be hosted by the International Journal of Wellbeing in conjunction with Victoria University of Wellington and the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. Sponsors to date include the New Zealand Treasury.<br.

The first two days of the conference will address several interrelated issues: • The role of wellbeing research in policymaking • Defining and measuring wellbeing for research and policymaking • Evaluating the role and scope of subjective measures of wellbeing in public policy • Assembling evidence on policies that improve wellbeing

The third day will be dedicated to workshops focused on specific topics, including: • Which measures of subjective wellbeing (if any) should feature in national accounts of wellbeing? • Gross National Happiness and other policy frameworks that look beyond the accumulation of wealth. • How can research on subjective wellbeing reliably inform policymaking? • How can subjective wellbeing measures be used to inform policies on poverty and income redistribution? • How can we best measure the wellbeing of children?

Keynote speakers • Andrew Clark, Paris School of Economics, France.

• Robert Cummins, Deakin University, Australia.

• Paul Frijters, The University of Queensland, Australia.

• Robert MacCulloch, University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Delegates from the Australian Treasury and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have also expressed interest in attending.

Call for abstracts

Abstracts are now invited for presentation at the conference. Please send us an email (see below) with your title and abstract (up to 300 words), full name and affiliation, and a few words indicating the context in which your research has been undertaken. For full consideration, abstracts should be submitted by 31 March 2012. For more information on the conference themes and workshop topics, please visit the conference website (www.wellbeingandpublicpolicy.orgl).

Conference papers themselves are to be delivered in 25 minutes followed by 10 minutes of discussion.

A selection of papers presented at the conference will be published later in 2012 in a special issue of the International Journal of Wellbeing (along with papers from the Measures of Wellbeing for Public Policy conference being held in Leeds, UK, 13-15 July 2012). Those wishing to have their paper considered for publication are asked to submit it to the journal by 1 September 2012. See Wellbeing and Public Policy Conference website for outline

Conference website and registration

Please register your interest in attending via the conference website: www.wellbeingandpublicpolicy.org.

Formal registration will be open at the end of February 2012.

All enquiries including requests to be placed on the conference email list for updates should be directed here: mailto: wellbeingandpublicpolicy@gmail.com.

Conference Organisation Committee: Prof. Philip S. Morrison, Dan Weijers, and Dr Aaron Jarden.