UCL IOE - Faculty of Education and Society
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UCL academics join forces with policymakers to roadmap public services for the 21st century
Experts from policy, politics, and research examined the challenges facing Britain’s core public services from criminal justice to the NHS, at the Institute for Government Public Services Conference, supported by UCL.
Among the UCL representatives at the special one-day conference were Dame Professor Henrietta Moore (UCL Institute for Global Prosperity), Professor Naomi Fulop (UCL Epidemiology & Health Care) and Dr Karen Schucan Bird (UCL IOE Social Research Institute).
They joined political grandees Michael Gove, former Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and Lord Blunkett, former Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Education, to discuss the cross-cutting issues facing public services today.
The conference came at a critical time for Britain, with a renewed focus on how public services will evolve under the new Labour government.
With grounding in science and research, the UCL experts offered their insights, analysis and evidence-based suggestions for meaningful public services reform across a number of discussion panels.
Reflecting on the urgency of meaningful public service reform, Professor Geraint Rees, UCL Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement), recently said:
“As a world-leading university with expertise across the range of academic disciplines, UCL is uniquely positioned to use its insight for public benefit. Our academic experts across the university, including the UCL Policy Lab, the Institute for Global Prosperity, and the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, are working to address major societal challenges.
“Today’s conference highlights our commitment to collaborating with policymakers and others to ensure that our research is delivering benefit to citizens across the UK.”
The conference underlined UCL’s commitment to bring multidisciplinary expertise to the worlds of policy development and government to support the UK’s national renewal.
Professor Marc Stears, Director of the UCL Policy Lab, said:
“It is crucial that we all think, therefore, about how these services can be made stronger, more cost effective and, most of all, more responsive to people’s concerns. These are questions that UCL colleagues have much to say about and it is brilliant to be able to bring their insights together with those on the frontline today."
Click here for the full press release
Original article link: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2024/nov/ucl-academics-join-forces-policymakers-roadmap-public-services-21st-century