Warwick Economics Summit 2021

We are pleased to report that in 2021 Warwick Economics Summit (WES) will be celebrating their 20th Anniversary.

Many of WES members are students of the Department of Economics, including this year’s overall Co-ordinators Amrita Kocher and Kako Higashida, both BSc Economics final year students.

Ami and Kako are very excited about WES 2021 taking place this weekend and said:

“We are hoping for the 20th edition of WES to act as a milestone event in our wider goal of cultivating an environment that connects the changemakers of today’s world with the leaders of tomorrow. This is especially true this year, as we are proud of the stellar line up curated by our team that truly reflects the leaders of today, but beyond that, we are able to welcome over 2700 delegates, including for the first time in WES history, over five hundred 16-18 year old participants. Providing a wider access to the event and making the majority of the tickets free to student participants, is helping us to get closer to our goal of widening accessibility to the social sciences.”

WES is an entirely student-run international forum where talented university students hear from some of the world’s most revered and inspirational speakers. This year’s edition will run from 5th to 7th February 2021 and for the first time in its history, will be hosted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The weekend programme includes seminars, networking sessions, panel debates and talks on a virtual platform.

This year’s programme promises to be one of the best of its kind, with a line-up of great speakers, including:

• Esko Aho, former Prime Minister of Finland
• Tsitsi Dangarembga, novelist
• Stephanie Flanders, Senior Executive Editor for Economics at Bloomberg
• Bishnupriya Gupta, Professor of Economics at Warwick
• Jose Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the OECD Council
• Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
• Zsuzsanna Jakab, Deputy Director General, World Health Organisation
• Andrew Oswald, Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science at Warwick
• Judit Polgar, highest ranked female chess player in history
• Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize Winner
• John Ridding, CEO of the Financial Times
• Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland
• Antoinette Sayeh, Deputy Managing Director IMF
• Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University
• Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics 2007
• Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Founder of Grameen Bank
• Shoshana Zuboff, Harvard University Professor and author

Among invited guests, there will be several alumni of the University of Warwick, including former students of the Department of Economics:

• Ross Davidson (BSc Economics and Politics), Global LNG BP, founder of Warwick Economics Summit
• David Davis (BSc Molecular Science/Computer Science 1971), former Chief Negotiator for the exit of the UK from the EU
• Maria Vittoria Foglia (BSc Economics, 2015), Vice President JP Morgan Private Bank
• Prof Oliver Hart, (MA Economics, 1972), Nobel Prize Winner for Economics 2016
• Henrik Johnsson (BSc Industrial Economics, 2002), Co-Head of Capital Markets and European Investment Banking, Deutsche Bank, founder of Warwick Economics Summit
• Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under Secretary General and Executive Director UN Women
• Dr Vindelyn Smith-Hillman (MSc Economics, 1998), Chief Economist, the Law Commission
• James Sullivan (BA Hons European Literature 2015), UK Government, Department for International Trade

The Summit’s focus goes far beyond the field of economics, encompassing the broader spheres of the social sciences, including development, politics, journalism, and international relations. It is this wide scope and diversity that sets the Summit apart from other events, ensuring that it remains relevant and in tune with today’s wider issues.

One area of the programme which the Department of Economics has helped to shape is a special programme of sessions for 16-18 year olds who are planning to study economics.

In the run-up to the main WES weekend, an Introduction to Economics online session was hosted by the Department of Economics (University of Warwick) in collaboration with the Bank of England, Discover Economics and the Warwick Economics Summit and supported by Warwick’s Student Recruitment Outreach and Admissions Service team. The event, which attracted over 1200 registrations, aimed to provide the 16-18 year old students and their teachers with the opportunity to discover more about economics as a subject, experience an interactive taster lecture, find out about applying to university and hear from current undergraduate students about what it’s like to study economics at university. The audience also had a chance to hear from economists about the wide-ranging work they do and the possible career opportunities open to economics graduates.

Dr Lory Barile, who leads widening participation and outreach activities in the Department of Economics said:

“We were delighted to engage with a diverse group of young students who are interested in studying economics. With this initiative and many others, we’re working hard in the Department to make economics appeal to a wider group of students to increase our ethnic and gender diversity.”

The follow-up event will be a discussion panel as part of the main WES 2021 programme (5-7 February) with professional economists discussing what they had learnt from studying economics and what their career journeys have been to date.

For details of the event please visit Warwick Economics Summit: https://www.warwickeconomicssummit.com/