Future Consultations

While training for faith leaders is wide-ranging and varied, nowhere in the UK are mid- to senior religious decision makers trained in leadership skills side by side. 

The Senior Faith Leadership Programme is intended to deepen encounters between those who are serving the Abrahamic communities in Britain, whether in a lay or clerical capacity. Its focus is on developing leadership – which by its nature is an inter-disciplinary phenomenon. Leadership of communities affects people from all walks of life and concerns the diversity of human experience.

In partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute

This week-long Consultation will bring together young people from across the world who are involved in the Roots and Shoots Programme devised by the Jane Goodall Institute. The focus of the week is for the professional development of each participant.

There will be a series of high-level presentations on topics of relevance to the Institute as a way of engendering debate and discussion.

In partnership with Transform Drugs

Managing the production, supply and use of illicit drugs is one of the most pressing issues facing global policymakers. Despite a continued commitment to the enforcement of prohibition in most of the world, drug markets continue to expand and countries are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of drug-related deaths. At the same time, the violence associated with the illicit drugs trade has continued to grow, with devastating consequences for some of the most vulnerable communities on the planet. 

This consultation will bring together a range of international, cross-disciplinary experts to consider the ‘what ifs’ of a post-legalisation landscape. It will not dwell on the arguments for and against legal regulation, but rather consider the challenges and opportunities as reform becomes more widespread. We are seeking the broadest possible range of views, and consideration of the widest range of  actors. We want to move beyond some of the familiar debates about individual rights or the ineffectiveness of current policy to ask what we would need to be prepared for as policy changes. How might it affect the economy? How might we assess benefits and harm? How might we protect vulnerable communities in the developing world? How can we ensure policy protects public health?

We hope that this discussion will open the space for a fruitful and constructive exchange of views about the realities of promoting health and social justice in a world where drugs were legally regulated. By doing so, we hope to better inform the current debate on drug policy and ensure that, as things move forward, all the key issues are taken into consideration.

In partnership with the Institute of Mechanical Engineers

Engineering is a central industry in the UK economy, yet it is a sector that is consistently misunderstood by the general public, leading to a serious skills shortage. Engineering remains worryingly unattractive to women and minority groups despite decades of intervention in schools and communities. It also remains an area of study that is side lined in mainstream education, and is for the most part accessible only through extracurricular enrichment opportunities. Efforts to place engineering at the heart of education, for example in University Technical Colleges, have encountered barriers to acceptance and integration in the current education system.

As we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution do we need to change radically the way we think about engineering education, recruitment, and retention? What might be a new and compelling narrative for the engineering sector? What risks will be involved in changing the current system?

In partnership with Local Trust

The event will discuss different approaches to community wealth building. Drawing on international practice, including the work of the Democracy Collaborative in the US, we will consider whether and how such approaches might both be adapted and integrated in England to support our most deprived communities.  For the purposes of the consultation, we are adopting their definition of community wealth building as  ‘a systems approach to economic development that creates an inclusive, sustainable economy built on locally rooted and broadly held ownership’.