Science and the Fight against Poverty: How Far Have We Come in 20 Years and What's Next?
This two-day colloquium will focus on how innovation and scientific evidence are driving advances in the global fight against poverty. The event will bring together researchers, policymakers, social innovators, funders and the general public at the Collège de France in Paris to explore the role of evidence use in shaping development and social policy in a variety of contexts. With all of these actors gathered together, the colloquium will serve as a space to celebrate progress, identify and disseminate best practices and take stock of the work still to be done to address global challenges like climate change.
This colloquium serves as the culmination of the first year of J-PAL co-founder and director Esther Duflo’s chair position in “Poverty and Public Policy” at the Collège de France, which she has used to explore the progression of the global effort to develop and mainstream evidence-based policy. Ultimately, this event will seek to chart the path forward for policymaking informed by rigorous research on a global level and continue J-PAL’s work of advocating for innovative, cost-effective solutions to our most pressing challenges.
The colloquium will be held over two days, Thursday, June 22 and Friday, June 23, at the historic Collège de France in Paris. Attendance is open to the general public; no prior registration is necessary. On June 22, the focus will be on Europe—with particular attention on the network’s activities in France, recent experiences in Spain, as well as J-PAL’s work promoting social inclusion on the continent through its European Social Inclusion Initiative. The first half of this day will be held in French, and the remainder of the event will be held in English. The following day, June 23, will be devoted to global poverty reduction challenges and the role of evidence-driven innovation in development.