Integrating Research and Policy for Health, Work and Wellbeing
Inaugural Symposium
The inaugural Wellbeing Connect Symposium was held on July 2nd 2014 in the Millennium Centre, Cardiff. Keynote lectures were given by Professor Tom Cox and Professor Andrew Oswald. Professor Andy Smith also gave an update on stress and wellbeing and films were shown about the research interests of the members of Wellbeing Connect. The symposium was sponsored by Sodexo and AOM International.
Click here to view the presentations and photos from the event.
Wellbeing Connect involves researchers investigating aspects of work and well-being, who have identified a strong potential for synergies in their research activities. The launch event described the research that this group is currently undertaking and the prospects for further work. Wellbeing Connect has developed an innovative and far-reaching approach to the study of subjective wellbeing and public policy. Building on extensive and well-funded existing research and strong links with the policy process, the members of Wellbeing Connect aim to increase and deepen their production of knowledge, transfer it more effectively both to other researchers and those involved in the development and delivery of policy, and to evaluate more precisely the impacts of the resultant interventions, in turn informing both knowledge generation and delivery in a positive feedback loop. Wellbeing Connect has evolved from a series of collaborations between researchers interested in the interaction between research on wellbeing, work and health and policy formation and implementation. The network’s defining features are a strong interdisciplinary ethos, and a very close connection to the policy process, involving not just interaction with those involved in policy formation, but also those involved in policy implementations and, most crucially, those affected by policies. A key role for the group is to act as a panel of experts that can be used to put together research teams to undertake a range of research-related activities. The network will be integrated via an active website, regular seminars and conferences and the circulation of work-in-progress between members.