Statistics, Knowledge and Policy: Understanding Societal Change

Here's a heads-up from the ISQOLS listserve:

Dear colleague,

I am pleased to announce that the OECD, in conjunction with the University of Kyoto and the Nissan Leadership Program for Innovative Engineers (LPIE) have developed a training course on “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy: Understanding Societal Change”, to be held in Kyoto (Japan) on 25-27 March 2009.

The course has been designed to provide assistance to those wanting to understand the progress of their societies and promote evidence-based debate and policy making. It will be of interest to statisticians, economists, policy makers, and people from the private and civil society sectors and we are targeting people with at least 5 years work experience.

Organised in the context of the Global Project on “Measuring the Progress of Societies” the course will focus on the importance of statistics for democracy and democratic decision-making; measures of progress that go “beyond GDP”; tools to transform statistics into knowledge; and evidence, civic engagement and policy making.

The maximum number of participants is 25 and the deadline for registration is 16 February 2009. The cost of all training, accommodation and lunches will be just 1,200 euros. For more details

The training will be run directly after the conference “Measuring and Fostering the Progress of Societies: Key Issues for the Asia and Pacific regions” , which we are running with the University of Kyoto at their Katsura Campus.

This conference is free to attend and will cover issues such as the benefits of developing broader, shared visions of progress for Asia and the Pacific. It will discuss the importance of sharing indicators of societal progress and turning those measures into societal knowledge. The conference will also analyse how better measures can lead to better policies to address issues of concern to Asian and Pacific societies including: energy and climate; public health, poverty and new technology; peace, good governance and democracy. Confirmed speakers include Noeleen Heyzer (Executive Secretary of UNESCAP), Enrico Giovannini (Chief Statistician OECD), Steve Killelea, (founder of the Global Peace Index) and Sawako Takeuchi (Professor of Kyoto University).

If you need more information, please email us with your question on the training course and the conference .

Yours sincerely,

The Global Project Team