2021 brings Kent’s third annual Economics Summit.
Since 2019, the Economics Society at Kent has held an Annual Summit. Insightful talks about the various hot issues of the day – presented by experts in Economics and a great opportunity to network with those in the field and other curious-minded individuals. Despite the restrictions placed on us by the pandemic and social-distancing rules, we decided we would still go ahead and host the Summit – virtually.
It seemed more important than ever during this time, we agreed, to find ways of engaging with what is going on around us and remaining stimulated. We decided then that we would see this as a virtue, an opportunity, one that we thought would be an injustice to keep to ourselves here at Kent!
We thought what better way to do the Summit than to share it with other Economics students around the country, reach a wider audience, get more students involved and share our passion for economic issues with other economics societies.
This manifested into partnering with the economics societies from UEA, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Birmingham and Exeter Universities, with them playing an active role in its coordination, to make it bigger and better than ever before.
The Summit will be held on Saturday 13th March from 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM, on Zoom with two talks, a debate, a panel discussion, and a networking session. Attendees are more than welcome to stay for the whole day or tune in for the sessions that suit them! Our distinguished guest speakers will be talking about the effect of AI on the Economy and policy, and how the health of our society impacts the Economy. Academics will debate on the potential benefits of mandated veganism, and our panel of experts will discuss the current state of the UK Economy and share their expectations.
Despite the Summit being virtual this year, we hope that it will be just as engaging and impactful as it has been in previous years. We want lasting conversations and connections to be created from this event. For students and professionals to leave more knowledgeable and intrigued about the economy. And most importantly we want people to leave inspired to continue these dialogues.
We have enlisted some amazing speakers this year from a senior MP, writers for the Financial Times, senior members of research institutes (NIESR, NEF), and an academic from Harvard. We are looking forward to hearing and interacting with these professionals. As in the previous years, we will have a student-teacher debate. These have always been thoroughly engaging, heated and fun to watch. This year promises to be no different.
From searching for speakers to meeting with the other universities, budgeting, and sourcing the best virtual platform, planning this year’s Summit has been both enjoyable and challenging. COVID has unfortunately meant that we have been unable to incorporate all that we would have wanted to. There’s nothing like an in-person experience, however, we have endeavoured to plan a virtual Summit that is not only engaging but brings people together, even if it’s from our homes.
We’ve put a lot of effort into ensuring that this is going to be an engaging and worthwhile event. We hope to see as many of you there as possible.
Timetable of event:
10:30 – 10:45
Welcome
10:45 – 11:30
‘AI and the Economy’ with Stephan Zheng
11:45 – 12:30
‘Health and the Economy’ with Chris Snowdon
13:30 – 14:15
Students vs Academics Debate: ‘Would the Economy benefit from mandated veganism?’
14:15 – 14:45
Networking
15:00 – 16:00
Panel discussion: ‘The UK Economy: 2021 and Beyond’ with Prof Jagjit Chadha, James Murray MP, Megan Greene, Prof Philip Booth and Alfie Stirling
Book your place by registering here.