Recordings from the Health Economic and Policy Seminar Series

A short seminar series where guest speakers from different health policy settings are invited to discuss their time in their policy role and advise on research areas of health economics that would be most impactful if they had their time again.

David Gruen

“Data linkage and integration to improve the evidence base for public policy: lessons from the Australian experience”

Date: June 2024

As the Australian Statistician, Dr David Gruen leads the functions and operations at the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Prior to joining the Australian Bureau of Statistics, he was the Deputy Secretary, Economic and Australia’s G20 Sherpa at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He has been instrumental in bringing about greater data linkage and integration in Australia so that researchers and government agencies can provide greater evidence for public policy development.

Bill English

“From data streams to public policy dreams: Sir Bill English on the benefits of greater data integration and linkage in New Zealand”

Date: May 2024

Sir Bill English was the 39th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and the leader of the National Party prior to standing down from politics in March 2018. He previously held a range of Ministerial portfolios, including Finance, Health and had roles in education, housing and revenue. He was responsible for sponsoring the development of the integrated data system (IDI) in New Zealand, which agencies and researchers now use to expand the evidence base for public policy decisions.

Lord Gus O’Donnell

“Wellbeing-adjusted life years (WELBYs) in policy and practice”

Gus O’Donnell was Cabinet Secretary and Head of the British Civil Service from 2005-2011 and in 2010, he oversaw the introduction of the first coalition government since the Second World War. He oversaw the introduction by the Office of National Statistics of the UK’s national wellbeing data.