Future Global Shocks Series

We live in an era of global shocks. The seismic waves of the 2007/8 financial crash, the devastating impact of climate change, Brexit, the Covid 19 pandemic and now the current energy crisis have rapidly changed the very fabric of our economies, public services, communities, civil liberties and environment. Our political discourse has changed dramatically too with an erosion of trust and the rise in policy making that is more populist than evidence based.

A key challenge for any modern democracy is how to prepare for ever-present global shocks, to build greater resilience into our economy and society, to tackle inequalities and to rebuild trust in how decisions are made.

Over the course of the autumn of 2022, the University of Glasgow will bring together a range of expertise, experience and propositions to contribute to the necessary discussion on current and future resilience in responding to Global Shocks.

This lecture series aims to consider what more we must do as a society to prepare our systems and networks, as well as policy and system relationships, to respond with resilience to the major global challenges we face: from economic crises and an aging population; to future health pandemics and protecting human rights.

Each 90-minute event will bring together prominent experts to give their perspective on the global shocks and what they have learnt in their respective fields. Each event will follow a similar format with 15-minute presentations followed by a 45 minute Q&A to be chaired by former Scottish Government Cabinet Secretaries, Jeane Freeman and Michael Russell, which will facilitate discussion and potentially inform future policy development.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to one of the greatest global healthcare crises we have ever faced, leading to a devastating loss of lives and an unprecedented impact on healthcare services. Changes to routine care and the impact on our NHS workforce were profound, and the pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities in health systems across the world. While our health systems bore a significant burden with COVID-19, the pressures and healthcare challenges which existed before the pandemic have not disappeared and COVID-19 has made these pressures more extreme than ever.

We face persistent inequalities in health outcomes, a population with chronic health conditions and complex care needs, and a need for central funding to keep pace with demand.

In the first in our series of Global Shock events on Monday 3rd October, our panel of experts will consider questions such as:

• What lessons have we learnt from the pandemic to make our health systems more resilient?
• In the global sphere, who could Scotland learn from?
• The pandemic widened health, social and economic inequalities. What do we need to do to address these challenges through the lens of healthcare?
• Are our health systems flexible enough to cope with the next health shock we might face?

With contributions from:

Professor Linda Bauld OBE, Bruce and John Usher Professor of Public Health at The Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh and Chief Social Policy Adviser for the Scottish Government

Professor Iain McInnes CBE, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, Muirhead Chair of Medicine and Versus Arthritis Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Glasgow.

A brief introduction to the Global Shock Series will also be given by:

Jeane Freeman OBE, former Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport in the Scottish Government

Professor Michael Russell, former Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations of Scotland in the Scottish Government

Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Glasgow

This is a hybrid event with in person participation taking place at the University of Glasgow’s Bute Hall and on line access will be available. Please select the appropriate ticket when you register

Further Global Shock Series seminars will take place in the coming months, focusing on:

• How Do We Reform Adult Social Care to be Equitable & Resilient (Monday 24th October)
• Responding to a Crisis like the Pandemic: Lessons We Can Learn From Communities (Wednesday 9th November)
• Striking a Balance: Lessons From The Pandemic on Civil Liberties & Social Justice (Monday 21st November)
• How Do You Make Economies More Resilient? Lessons From the Pandemic (rescheduled from Monday 19th September- date TBC)

Please note that by registering to attend this event via Eventbrite you are providing consent for your personal data to be held by Eventbrite and that this data may be held on international servers. Your data will be used for the purposes of event administration only.

If you do not wish to provide your personal data in this way, you can also register your attendance by email: governmentrelations@glasgow.ac.uk