Richer countries are rapidly ageing and productivity is stagnating.

Meanwhile, industry - the motor for rapid economic development in the past - employs ever fewer people worldwide. And yet there is still hope for greater, and shared, global prosperity. Declining working age populations in rich countries are demanding ever-more services. A rising, increasingly educated working age population in lower income economies can provide them.

After a summer of extreme heatwaves, devastating wildfires and deadly flooding across the world, all made worse by climate change, the Rt Hon Sir Alok Sharma, President of COP26 in Glasgow 2021, will discuss the ongoing climate crisis with Director of the Oxford Martin School, Professor Sir Charles Godfray.

Anthropogenic planetary disruptions, from climate change to biodiversity loss, are unprecedented challenges.

For better and for worse, these disruptions are the product of unprecedented capabilities to shape the environments that sustain human societies. Can Earth’s newest and most disruptive force of nature be redirected to achieve a better future for all of life in the Anthropocene?

Adama Dieng, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, July 2012 to July 2020, will discuss the UN's role in the global collective responsibility to prevent genocide and other mass atrocities.

Working Group Discussion
Topic: Smart Cities, Surveillance, and Human Data

Please email elisabeth.siegel@politics.ox.ac.uk to be able to attend. Recommended readings will be sent out a week in advance of the meeting date.

The use by government agencies of AI in guiding important policy decisions (e.g., on policing, welfare, education) has generated backlash and led to calls for greater public input in AI regulation. But what does the public’s input on this topic entail? Does personal experience with the technology or learning about its implications change people’s views on using AI for guiding policy implementation? We study these questions experimentally in an online labour marketplace.

The POLLOT research project studies political lotteries, which randomly select individuals to take a political decision. Recently, lotteries have put citizens together to find solutions to today’s contentious, polarizing issues, such as disaffection, abortion reform, and climate change. What explains their varied success? Lotteries equalise opportunity of access to all. Random chance can strengthen those otherwise in the minority. A wider variety of opinions can also improve debate and reduce polarization.