The Science of Happiness

Happiness, wellbeing and quality of life have been climbing up the public policy agenda in recent years, with governments apparently devoting increasing attention to how to improve people’s life satisfaction. But what lies beneath these warm words about the need to improve quality of life?

What makes people happy remains a hotly debated issue. With uncertainties about what conditions and interventions can improve happiness or quality of life, it remains unclear how governments and others can act to improve it, or how such improvements can be measured or recorded. This presents significant challenges to attempts to improve the happiness of populations. What can policy-makers learn from the scientific evidence on human happiness and how can they put this evidence into policy and practice?

This event will bring researchers and policy-makers together to explore some of the evidence on what makes people happy, including considering the relations between genes and happiness and what causes humans to be optimistic. It will seek to draw out the implications for policy and consider how policy-makers can act to help to improve quality of life and deliver on their promises of happiness.

Speakers:

• Dr Jan Emmanuel de Neve, UCL School of Public Policy

• Dr Tali Sharot, UCL Cognitive, Perceptual & Brain Sciences

• Dr Gemma Harper, Chief Social Researcher, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

• Stephen Hicks, Measuring National Well-being Progress, Office for National Statistics

The event will be chaired by Professor Brian Collins, UCL Centre for Engineering Policy.

6pm, 29 May 2012

Sir David Davies Lecture Theatre, Roberts Building, UCL, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE

Followed by a drinks reception in the Roberts Foyer

To register for this event or to read more about UCL Public Policy, please see the website.