Data for Policy 2020 – Fifth International Conference

The Data for Policy conference series is the premier global forum for multiple disciplinary and cross-sector discussions around the theories, applications and implications of data science innovation in governance and the public sector. In partnership with Cambridge University Press, the conference series has also entered into a new open-access peer-reviewed journal venture, Data & Policy, in order to capture and archive scholarly discussions in this fast-growing field.

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the International Conference Organisation Committee has decided to hold the Data for Policy 2020 meeting virtually replacing the physical meeting scheduled for 15-16 September 2020 in London.  This decision was not taken lightly but we believe this is the correct decision since we are, first and foremost, committed to protecting our delegates’ health and safety while fulfilling our central purpose as a top international forum bringing together key stakeholders in this space.

Beyond practical considerations, we also believe the Data for Policy 2020 conference will be a great opportunity to also assess and review the data science responses to the current global pandemic. To this account we have recently added a further Special Track “Re-using data to address COVID-19 and Pandemics” to our conference call. This track will be chaired by Professor Stefaan Verhulst from GovLab at NYU.

We are committed to honouring the high-quality work of our authors and volunteers, and hence will now fully shift our efforts to the development and delivery of a successful virtual conference experience this year. Given the pioneering role of the Data for Policy community, we believe this experience will also enable us to experiment on more innovative and efficient ways to improve our future physical meetings as well.