Contributor(s): Professor Naila Kabeer, Phillip Hensher, Monica Ali | How can an author bring out the stories and voices buried in their research to deliver the impact they are hoping for? And how should writers communicate experiences of power and oppression that are not their own? Whether embarking on a creative novel or an academic monograph, an author is faced with choices about the ways in which they tell their stories.

Contributor(s): Shirley Rodrigues, Jean-Louis Missika, Ciaran Cuffe, Dr Liam Beiser-McGrath | Cities are widely considered to be progressive bastions against the tide of populism and growth of right-wing movements across Europe. But recent election results show that cities are not immune to the divisive discourses surrounding the green transition. From Berlin to Barcelona to Oslo to London, green policies have developed into a central battleground in local politics, with initiatives such as 15-minute cities, low-traffic neighbourhoods, low emission zones and other attempts to reduce car dependency proving particularly contentious.

How can urban leaders design and communicate policies in ways that reconcile concerns for the end of the month and concerns for the end of the world, and enable the transition towards more just and sustainable cities?

Contributor(s): Professor Leslie Vinjamuri, Professor Helen Thompson, Gideon Rachman | Early hopes that Western democracies’ unified response to Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine would break the populist, anti-globalist fever have not been fulfilled. Instead, since the invasion, opponents of the liberal order have made deeper inroads in France, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the possibility persists that Trump may return to the White House in 2025.

Contributor(s): Professor Giles Atkinson, Dr Matthew Agarwala | Discover how to measure economic progress and sustainability with practical illustrations in this one-hour workshop by leading experts on measuring sustainable development, Giles Atkinson and Matthew Agarwala.

Learn what is at the heart of this topic – “Beyond GDP” is easy to say, but what does it actually mean to move beyond Gross Domestic Product as the primary way that nations use to measure economic and social development?

Find out how thinking about "nature as capital" is a key step in this journey and why, more generally, focusing on national and planetary wealth is a better guide to economic and social development prospects.

Discover which countries and organisations are doing what to go “Beyond GDP” around the world.

Begin to be able to distil a picture of whether national economies are sustainable, using a handful of available indicators.

Contributor(s): Sarah O'Connor, Professor Alan Manning, Professor Stephen Machin, Kate Bell | How much power should employers have over their workers’ lives?

Most countries recognise that employer power needs to be curbed – with governments setting out legal requirements on minimum pay, maximum working hours and paid leave. And governments also intervene to curb worker power – ruling on trade union recognition, who can strike and under what conditions. But should governments intervene between employer and employee on matters such as sending out-of-hours emails, or on whether to pay bonuses?

Contributor(s): Professor Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, Dr Özge Öner, James Blagden | Recent EU research highlights a clear connection between stagnant growth within some European regions and their support for Eurosceptic parties, also suggesting that the longer the period of stagnation, the stronger the opposition to European integration.

Contributor(s): Professor Gerry Simpson, Dr Joana Setzer, Sir Howard Morrison KC, Professor Larry Kramer | There is a growing expectation for law and courts, whether domestic or international, to be remedies for international problems. Our panel explore the power of law and courts in the face of contemporary international challenges.

Contributor(s): Professor Paul Collier | Left behind places can be found in prosperous countries — from South Yorkshire, integral to the industrial revolution and now England’s poorest county, to Barranquilla, once Colombia’s portal to the Caribbean and now struggling. More alarmingly, the poorest countries in the world are diverging further from the rest of humanity.

Contributor(s): Dr Nesrin Alrefaai, Professor Matthew Spangler | The new play 'A handful of lentils' by Dr Nesrin Alrefaai and Professor Matthew Spangler, focuses on the interaction between a Syrian refugee and a state official. They discuss how theatre plays a role in addressing life experiences during political upheaval.

Contributor(s): Kerryn Krige, Dr Jonathan Roberts | You will learn five practical skills to challenge and reshape power dynamics:

Understanding social problems

Prioritising coproduction with communities and users

Considering organisational design

Leading systems change

Building (and sometimes not building) market-based solutions