things to come: the next ten years

Book your place at this timely event marking the start of the new policy season.

This one-day Conference in association with the Scottish Council for Development & Industry (SCDI) takes place on Monday 10 September at Edinburgh’s Roxburghe Hotel. The event marks the tenth anniversary of SCF and looks ahead to the big challenges facing Scotland in the next decade.

Speakers include: First Minister Alex Salmond MSP, Scottish Labour Leader Jack McConnell MSP, Enterprise, Energy and Tourism Minister Jim Mather MSP, Joseph Rowntree Foundation Director Julia Unwin, Chair of the Climate Change Business Delivery Group Ian Marchant, Professor of Social Change Susan Deacon, Principal of Heriot Watt University Professor Anton Muscatelli, Public Services Ombudsman Alice Brown and Chair of the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives Andrew Cubie.

We are delighted to acknowledge the generous support of our Principal Partners: Accenture, Alliance Boots, BAA Scotland, BP, Lloyds TSB, Scottish Widows and our Associate Partners: Carnegie UK Trust, Diageo, Highland Spring and Stationery World.

View the Conference programme and booking details here.

Work@scf: independent thinkers required

We are seeking two new colleagues to contribute to our Programme from September, a Policy Research Manager and a Research Fellow. Full details are available on the website. The closing date for applications is Friday 27 July. Please share the link with anyone who may be interested.

Latest Publications

Financial Inclusion & Capability in Rural Scotland Read the conclusions of our inquiry into financial inclusion and capability challenges in rural Scotland, covering Sutherland, Islay and East Ayrshire. Full Report Summary Report

Rethinking Representation: MSPs’ experiences in the second term Our second-term panel study of MSPs’ expectations and experiences reported in May. Full report Read The Herald’s coverage. We are planning to continue our work on parliamentary reform at Holyrood with a third term panel study Minority Report. If you are interested to know more or to become a partner, please contact: Frauke Sinclair.

Forthcoming Reports

Obesity and Public Policy: Thinking clearly and treading carefully
Dr Michael Gard of Australia’s Charles Strut University presents a cautionary review of the evidence on overweight and obese populations, diet and exercise. With a Foreword by our Knowledge Exchange leader, Frauke Sinclair. To be published on Tuesday 24th July.

Future Energy Choices
Findings from Scotland’s first Consensus Conference, bringing together a panel of 15 citizens and 15 expert practitioners from the energy industry, government and NGOs. Available in September.

Our Programme

Keep up to date with the Foundation’s current research programme.

Supporting SCF

SCF is backed by a cross-sectoral group of Principal Supporters and a diverse group of project partners. We are always keen to hear your ideas for areas of future research and events. Please contact Jim McCormick or Andrew Harris if you would like to discuss working in partnership with SCF.

Ideas in prospect

We are considering a number of project themes for the autumn. These include Making sense of migration (Linda Boyes), Responsible drinking (Andrew Harris), Driving Forces: Understanding car cultures (Jim McCormick), and Minority Report: Parliamentary reform in the third-term (Frauke Sinclair). We are now seeking partners and funders for these projects.

Knowledge Exchange

Visit the new Knowledge Exchange section of our website to read how we approach sharing of knowledge across our networks, and to view findings from our recent stakeholder survey. For further information, contact Frauke Sinclair.

The Wellbeing Project

SCF in association with Pfizer host The Wellbeing Project. Sign up for the newsletter, read the blog by Deputy Director Andrew Harris and read about the Working the System report. Contact Andrew Harris for further information.

Other Events

Annual Lecture

Peter Hennessy gave the SCF’s tenth Annual Lecture on 18 June at The Royal Museum of Scotland. His lecture titled From Blair to Brown: The condition of British government reflected on the experience of UK government since 1997 and identified lessons for a new Prime Minister on relations between Cabinet, Parliament and the civil service. View our photo gallery of the Reception and Lecture.

Ramsay Garden Seminars

The new series begins with Professor Paul Wilkinson of the Centre for Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (University of St. Andrews) speaking on Thursday 6 September. We are delighted to acknowledge the support of Scottish & Newcastle for the 2007-08 series.

SCF recommends

From last year’s back catalogue, Tom Shakespeare from the University of Newcastle recommends another look at the Disability in Scotland report (published in association with Disability Rights Commission Scotland). Presenting the findings from a research team led by Linda Boyes, it sets out our ‘state of the nation’ audit of life with a disability.

Your Feedback

If you wish to comment on any aspect of this newsletter please email us on news@scottishcouncilfoundation.org