LSE at Party Conferences 2025
LSE takes new, policy-focused research to party conferences every year to help inspire debate and support policy thinking.
In 2025, we are focusing on AI: how it can improve public services and boost growth, and how we need to prepare for the skills needs the future will bring.
Dr Cosmina Dorobantu and Prof Helen Margetts from LSE's Data Science Institute, and Prof Tony Travers, will be discussing these - and related topics - at Labour and Conservative Conferences.
At Labour, please join us on Monday 29 September at 3pm, at Revolucion de Cuba on the Liverpool Docks for the LabourList and LSE debate: Next-Gen Government: Data & AI in Public Services.
At Conservatives, please join us on Tuesday 7 October at 3.30pm, Royce Suite, Midland Hotel to be part of the discussion.
Other LSE academics due to be at conferences include: Prof Tom Kirchmaier, whose focus is on using data and AI to tackle crime and improve public safety; Dr Andy Summers, who focuses on reform to the UK's tax system; and Jenevieve Treadwell, our London Policy Fellow who researches a variety of issues relating to life in the capital.
Also, at the Liberal Democrat Conference we are co-hosting a reception with EPI on children's wellbeing - the factors that influence it and how government can improve it. If you are interested in attending this, on Monday 22 September, or any of our other party conference events, please get in touch with the Team.
Growth in England’s Towns Roundtable
In June, LSE brought together MPs representing English towns and academics with expertise in local growth, devolution and innovation policy for a roundtable in Parliament to discuss growth in England’s towns. Prof Tony Travers, Prof Riccardo Crescenzi, and Prof Neil Lee shared their insights on what the Government can – and should – do to ensure economic growth is distributed evenly across the country and that England’s towns are not sidelined in the push to grow our cities.
A summary of the discussion is available here.
Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2025 Roundtables
LSE is partnering with the Education Policy Institute (EPI) to produce a series of roundtables centred around the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill as it makes its way through Parliament.
The series sees LSE academics in conversation with expert representatives from the House of Lords, Civil Service, local government, children’s charities and think tanks, and the education sector.
The roundtables centre on five key themes in the Bill: child poverty; accountability; teacher supply and the leadership pipeline; special educational needs and disabilities (SEND); and a concluding roundtable focused on having happier children at school.
This first roundtable, held in January 2025, discussed the Government’s measures to reduce child poverty in both the Bill and upcoming Child Poverty Strategy.
Read a summary of the discussion and policy recommendations from attendees below.
LSE and EPI Child Poverty Roundtable January 2025.
The second roundtable will explore the implications of the Bill for the future of the accountability system, including changes to rules around automatic academisation, legal duties around admissions, and changes to the autonomy of academies. Participants considered how the new requirements on academies will impact how schools and MATs are judged, what is needed from report cards to measure schools in the round, and how to improve how schools work in their local area and collaborate with councils.
Read a summary of the discussion and policy recommendations from attendees below.
LSE and EPI Accountability Roundtable February 2025
There have been debates over the potential effects on the teacher supply and leadership pipeline as a result of proposals to change pay rule and qualified teacher status. Experts will consider the interrelationship between the Bill, recruitment and retention, and other contextual challenges affecting the teacher supply. They will also consider what more is needed from a workforce strategy to tackle the ongoing employment crisis.
LSE and EPI Teacher Supply and Leadership Pipeline Roundtable February 2025
This roundtable will be looking at inequalities in SEN provision, alongside specialist teacher training and the tension between different levels of government, alongside how these can be addressed in the short, medium and long term.
LSE and EPI SEND Provision Roundtable March 2025
The final event in this series will explore how the provisions in the Bill will make children happier at school, how the legislation can be translated into real-world, measurable improvements, and what more might need to be done in the future.
A summary of this roundtable will be released in April.