Session Two

Judges in the dock: defenders of democracy or vandals in ermine? – TT Arvind, York Law School

With the public still deeply divided over Brexit and increasingly frustrated with the government’s attempts to contain the coronavirus, the role of the judiciary in holding the executive to account becomes ever more important. From the proroguing of Parliament to the exercise of pandemic emergency powers, the government appears to be taking the law into its own hands. But can we trust the judges to defend the citizen against an over-mighty state? Or are they politically biased in favour of our rulers? Law professor TT Arvind and his team have developed a data-rich analytic model that shines a forensic light on the decision-making record of our most senior judges in search of evidence for signs of bias.

Not the usual suspects: religious leaders as influencers of humanitarian norms compliance – Ioana Cismas, Centre for Applied Human Rights

Humanitarian norms aim to 'humanise' war by requiring parties to armed conflict to protect civilians from attacks, detainees from abuse and to facilitate humanitarian assistance. Yet, all too often, across the globe civilians are killed, detainees ill-treated, and hospitals and aid convoys bombed. This stark reality results from the manifold systemic and structural challenges to the effectiveness of humanitarian norms in times of war. In collaboration with the humanitarian organisation Geneva Call, Dr Ioana Cismas and her team are developing an innovative approach that could assist humanitarian practitioners to forge greater norm compliance. The Generating Respect Project examines how religious leaders act as influencers in armed conflicts and how their religious interpretations can generate greater respect for humanitarian norms. By documenting the roles played by religious leaders in ongoing conflicts in Colombia, Libya, Mali and Myanmar, this research is providing the evidence-base for expanding the interlocutors of humanitarian organisations beyond the direct parties to an armed conflict and their engagement tools to value-based arguments. This in turn, may lead to a paradigm shift in humanitarian engagement strategies.

The role of social media in business innovation – Deborah Roberts, York Management School

Like the over-promised benefits of the dot-com boom, the power of social media to drive innovation in business is experiencing a giddy ride on the hype curve. Deborah Roberts, Professor of Innovation and Marketing Management, pricks the hype bubble and throws a lifeline of research-driven wisdom to business leaders who find themselves at risk of being submerged in a tidal wave of data. Drawing on research published in MIT Sloan, Professor Roberts highlights just how easily senior managers can be distracted by the sheer volume and diversity of data that flows from social media, mistakenly thinking it is just as valid as information from traditional online databases. Join her to hear about the skill sets and strategies firms need if they are to maximise social media’s potential benefits, from product design and market analysis through to product launch.

Smart data analysis helps understand the role of GP care for people with severe mental illness – Rowena Jacobs, Centre for Health Economics

Health economists at the Centre for Health Economics are shedding new light on the critical role of GPs in the treatment of conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and psychoses, which cost the UK more than £18 billion a year. Using powerful computers to crunch complex data, Professor Jacobs and her team are analysing the entire patient pathway, from the GP surgery through to acute services and long-term care in specialised mental health hospitals. This pioneering work, using advanced statistical techniques, is helping shape healthcare policy by providing a deeper understanding of how spending on high quality GP interventions - such as annual physical health checks and bespoke care plans - can help unlock savings elsewhere in the NHS, while at the same time improving outcomes for patients who typically have a life expectancy 20-years shorter than the rest of the population.

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