The panel explore how we can identify cost-effective policies to improve societal wellbeing — and why it will be key to shaping the future of the UK and beyond.
Meet our speakers and chair
Martin Knapp (@knappem) is Professor of Health and Social Care Policy at LSE, based in the Health Policy Department. He is also a Professorial Research Fellow in the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC; formerly PSSRU) at the School. Since 2023, Martin has been Programme Director for the Research Programme for Social Care, part of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in England. From 2009 until 2024, he was also Director of the NIHR of the School for Social Care Research. Martin's main research interests are in the areas of social care (often called long-term care), child and adult mental health, dementia and neurodiversity. Much of his work uses economic arguments and evidence to inform policy discussion and influence practice development. His research has had wide-ranging impacts on policy and practice in a number of fields.
Laura Taylor leads the Wellbeing in Childhood and Adolescence research stream at the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. She works with prominent global organisations, helping them gain insights into the leading science around child and adolescent wellbeing and designing strategies to improve wellbeing for young people globally. Laura is currently redesigning the approach to wellbeing for the International Baccalaureate Organization for use with their 1.2 million pupils in over 5,000 schools globally. Her research has been published in leading scientific journals such as the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Journal of Educational Psychology, Mindfulness, Prevention Science, and BMJ Evidence-based Mental Health. Her work has been featured by leading media outlets such as The FT, The Times, BBC News, The Guardian, The Washington Post, USA Today, Sky News, and NBC News
Richard Layard (@RichardLayard) is Director of the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP)’s wellbeing programme, Emeritus Professor of Economics at LSE and founder director of CEP.
Dr Christian Krekel is Assistant Professor in Behavioural Science in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics and a Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, and at the Wellbeing Research Centre, University of Oxford. He is an applied economist: his research fields are behavioural economics and wellbeing, policy and programme evaluation, and applied panel and spatial analysis.
More about this event
This event is part of the LSE Festival: Visions for the Future running from Monday 16 to Saturday 21 June 2025, with a series of events exploring the threats and opportunities of the near and distant future, and what a better world could look like. Booking for all Festival events will open on Monday 19 May.
The Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) carries out policy-focused research on the causes of economic growth and effective ways to create a fair, inclusive and sustainable society.
Hashtag for this event: #LSEFestival
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Podcast & video
A podcast of this event is available to download from Putting wellbeing and mental health at the heart of progress
A video of this event is available to watch at Putting wellbeing and mental health at the heart of progress
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