The Third International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy will bring together over 350 policymakers, wellbeing researchers, and members of the public in Wellington next week to share the latest findings on quality of life and how to promote it.
“It is timely to have the conference hosted in New Zealand when policymakers here have been tasked with demonstrating the impact of policies on the wellbeing of society,” says organising committee chair Professor Philip Morrison from the University’s School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences.
“The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson have said they want the 2019 Budget round to assess spending bids against new measures that take into account not just the impact on GDP, but also on our natural, social, human, and possibly cultural capital.”
He says as a result, policymakers have to grapple with a number of difficult questions, such as the definition of wellbeing, how to measure it, how to promote it through public policies and how to assess national progress.
“It also raises contentious issues, such as whether a focus on wellbeing promotes a particular set of values, or whether it means we take our eye off a focus on improved economic opportunities for impoverished populations. There’s plenty to debate.”
More than 140 presentations from local and international leaders in wellbeing research and policy will grapple with these questions and more. Eighteen different streams of talks include Māori wellbeing, children’s wellbeing, post-disaster wellbeing, and housing and wellbeing.
What: 3rd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy
When: 5-7 September 2018
Where: The Beehive and Rutherford House, Victoria University of Wellington
You can find out more on the conference website.
The conference is sponsored by Allen & Clarke, Deloitte, International Journal of Wellbeing, New Zealand Treasury, Statistics New Zealand, and Victoria University of Wellington (School of Government and Faculty of Health).