Learning What Works
Date:
22/05/2017 - 23/05/2017
Organised by:
University of Essex
Presenter:
Prof. Jake Bowers
Level:
Entry (no or almost no prior knowledge)
Contact:
Dr. Hector Solaz, hector.solaz@essex.ac.uk, +44 (0)1206 876549
Description:
Much is made of whether public policies and programs provide value for money, a positive social return on investment, or simply just whether they 'work'. Only transparent evaluations and good quality evidence can answer those questions and help the public sector provide effective and efficient services. When good quality evidence is not available, policy makers should use high quality methods to find out what works.
To learn what works, ESSEXLab is organizing a two-day workshop at the University of Essex. Professor Jake Bowers, Fellow of White House Behavioral Insights Unit and Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois, will lead the workshop. The workshop will bring together academics and policymakers who share an interest in how rigorous insights from behavioural social sciences can help inform decision-making at local and state-levels of government. To this end, the workshop will discuss the benefits and challenges of collaborations between scientists and policy networks, and assess the costs and benefits of transparent evaluation of policies. The workshop will also introduce participants to state-of-the-art methods used in understanding the efficacy of policy, including randomized control trials, observational data, and design-based thinking. Further, the workshop will provide ample opportunity for students and policy-makers to interact on selected policy challenges that are of interest to them, laying the groundwork for future collaboration and networks between academics and members of the policy community.
The workshop is addressed to PhD students, academic researchers, and practitioners that wish to better understand how behavioural insights can contribute to better policy-making. The training may be beneficial in better understanding cutting-edge methods. It may also inform the design, execution, and monitoring of policy evaluation, more broadly. It may also help participants establish lines of collaboration between academics and members of the policy-making community.
Cost:
Students - £250. Academics - £300. External - £350
Website and registration:
https://www.essex.ac.uk/events/event.aspx?e_id=11898
Region:
East of England
Keywords:
Frameworks for Research and Research Designs, Randomized Control Trials (RCT), Evaluation Research, Policy evaluation
Related publications and presentations:
Frameworks for Research and Research Designs
Randomized Control Trials (RCT)
Evaluation Research
Policy evaluation