Building an Inclusive Economy: Where are the big ideas?
Andy Wood, Ander Etxeberria, Roger Farmer, Neil McInroy, Wanda Wyporska and Roy Sainsbury (Chair)

• Friday 15 June 2018, 5.00PM to 6.30pm
• Free admission
  Booking required
  Book tickets
• Ron Cooke Hub, University of York (map|getting to campus)
• Wheelchair accessible

Event details

Are there different ways we can organise our economy to create a fairer and more prosperous society? How could we adjust our economic decision making to help the poorest in society? Should we adopt basic universal income? What are the lessons we can learn from programmes like the Inclusive Economy Partnership and the Spanish cooperative, the MONDRAGON Corporation? 

Join Andy Wood of the Inclusive Economy Partnership, Wanda Wyporska, Executive Director of The Equality Trust, Roger Farmer of the University of Warwick, Neil McInroy of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (Preston) and Ander Etxeberria of the MONDRAGON Corporation as they present innovative ideas for creating an inclusive economy. The session is chaired by Roy Sainsbury of the University of York.

About the speakers

For more than two years Ander Etxeberria has been the Director for MONDRAGON Cooperative Dissemination. He serves annually approximately 2,000 people who want to know about the MONDRAGON Cooperative Experience including professionals, students, politicians and researchers. Previously, he worked for 11 years in Ikerlan cooperative technological research center as Human Resources Manager, and before, he worked for seven years in the Corporate Center of MONDRAGON in the social management department. He first studied Technical Industrial Engineering at Mondragon University and then Sociology at Deusto University. In his free time he likes to be with his family and friends, as well as taking photographs and mountaineering.

Roger Farmer is Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick and Research Director at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). He is also a Distinguished Professor of Economics at UCLA. He is a world leading economist and former Senior Houblon-Norman Fellow at the Bank of England. He has previously held positions at the University of Pennsylvania, The European University Institute and the University of Toronto. He is a Fellow of Econometric Society, Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, Fellow Commoner of Cambridge University and Co-Editor of the International Journal of Economic Theory.  He is the author of Prosperity for All: How to Prevent Financial Crises (Oxford University Press).  

Neil McInroy is the Chief Executive of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES). He oversees the running of CLES and the development of the organisation, including collaborations with other bodies. A leading commentator on economic development and public policy, Neil has featured in Local Government Chronicle’s annual top 50 most influential people in local government. He has been involved in public sector policy and delivery for over 25 years.

Neil has collaborated with a broad range of local, regional and national governments and agencies across UK and in Europe, Asia, USA and Australasia. His particular skills are in strategic policy, local economic and social research, analysis and development; research methodologies and facilitation.

Roy Sainsbury is Professor of Social Policy at the University of York having previously held Director level posts in the Social Policy Research Unit and the Centre for Housing Policy at York. He has been researching welfare and benefits for nearly 30 years and has a strong interest in welfare reform and the future of social security and employment policy, particularly as it affects disabled people. What currently preoccupies him are debates about the pros and cons of a Universal Basic Income and how to close the unacceptably high gap in the employment rates between disabled people and non disabled people.

As the Business Leader of its North & Midlands region, Andy Wood is passionate about Grant Thornton, and growing its clients, its people and its communities. He works in audit and business advisory, specialising in listed and private company audit work, across a variety of sectors, but notably manufacturing and engineering, and business support services. Over the years he has built a reputation for building great relationships and delivering advice in a pragmatic, commercial fashion. Andy is a trained coach, a member of the CBI’s Yorkshire & Humberside Regional Council, and has been a parent-governor at Burley Oaks Primary School in Burley in Wharfedale where he lives. 

Dr Wanda Wyporska, FRSA is Executive Director at The Equality Trust, where she leads the work of the organisation in its mission to improve the quality of life in the UK by reducing social and economic inequality. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the University of York. In her previous role, she established a vibrant equalities function at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, founded the Safer Schools Network and led the union's work on anti-bullying, child poverty, social mobility and violence against women and girls. Between 2006 and 2012, she worked with business and trade unions at unionlearn, the TUC’s learning project, funded by governments of all hues.

Wanda was a Starun Senior Scholar at Hertford College, Oxford, where she was awarded a doctorate in European History and subsequently published her first book, Witchcraft in Early Modern Poland 1500-1800 in 2013. It was shortlisted for the Katharine Brigs Folklore Award. She has spoken at various literary events, conferences and seminars and regularly comments in the media, having appeared on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze and on BBC 1's The Big Questions. 

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