As Scotland’s National Academy, our mission is to use knowledge for public benefit. We use the tremendous expertise we have access to through our Fellowship and friendship community; in order to harness a breadth of knowledge and understanding to the benefit of Scotland and the wider world.
The RSE Post Covid-19 Futures Commission was established to support Scotland in emerging as positively as it can from the current pandemic. The questions we ask in the aftermath of Covid-19 could be more important than those we pose in the present. The upheaval brought upon by a national crisis, while overwhelming, can also be an opportunity to learn important lessons about our current processes and institutions that are informed by evidence, expertise and public dialogue.
The Commission met for the first time in May via a Zoom call where it began to identify a number of broad areas for attention and these have been used to form the development of the work programmes and Working Groups.
The Commission and its Working Groups meet regularly and the outputs from these Work Groups are communicated through the RSE’s various communication channels.
Meet the Commission
Our Commissioners span a breadth of disciplines, expertise and experience. All of them are voluntarily giving their time and expertise to this project.
Our Key Principles
A Focus on Inequalities
Illuminating and identifying ways to address inequalities and build a fairer society.
Meaningful Participation and Engagement
We will work closely with partners who are already engaged first-hand with those most affected by Covid-19 to ensure our work is grounded in the reality of lived experience. We want to give greater voice to those often furthest away from power and opportunity.
Collaborative Working
We will be outward looking, actively exploring opportunities for engagement and collaboration, and being thoughtful as to where we can best add value.
Making a Difference
We want our work to have impact, to help shape thinking, policy and practice.
Multiple Perspectives
Commission members bring a range of expertise and experience, from across academia, business, public service and the creative arts.
Independent Thinking
We do not represent or lobby for any particular interests making us well placed to challenge assumptions and prompt and provoke fresh and radical thinking. Our independence of thought is underpinned by evidence and expertise.
FAQ
The coronavirus pandemic has wide-ranging and far-reaching implications, well beyond the impact of the disease itself, that will significantly affect society for a considerable time to come. It is probably the most challenging time many of us have ever experienced. Individuals, organisations, and communities are dealing with huge amounts of disruption, uncertainty, anxiety and loss.
How we emerge from the pandemic in Scotland is just as important as the short-term handling of it. This is our chance to think about the kind of society we wish to be, to imagine a better future and build a more resilient and fairer society.
As Scotland’s National Academy, the RSE is uniquely placed to bring together a breadth of independent expertise in the form of a Commission with leading thinkers and practitioners from across academia, business, public service and the creative arts.
It hopes to identify and help address some of the immediate policy implications and challenges arising from Covid-19, as well as to lead and support Scotland’s post-Covid ‘recovery’.
Members of the Commission bring a diverse range of experience and work with a breadth of groups across society. With the exception of the RSE CEO, they are offering up their time on a voluntary basis and in an individual capacity and not representing any particular organisation. You can read more about them above.
The Commission has been holding meetings (virtually) since May 2020. It has identified key issues and questions that need to be explored. A multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral approach to working groups has been established. Work is focusing on specific issues or themes and will draw in a wider set of views and voices on particular areas of focus, working with other organisations as appropriate.
The Commission will be informed by a wide range of discussions with stakeholders and networks and use its convening power to stay connected with other organisations working in this post-Covid space and harness opportunities for collaboration and partnership.
As the pandemic, and the response to it, has impacted differentially on different communities, a key consideration across the work programme will be considering how these impacts play out across society, including amongst different groups as well as geographically.
In scoping out and taking forward work, particular attention will be paid to providing opportunities for members of the public to be engaged – both to feed in their views about the kind of future they wish to see as well as in ensuring RSE’s work is informed by lived experience of those most directly affected by Covid-related changes and consequences.
About RSE
As Scotland’s National Academy, our mission is to use knowledge for public benefit. We use the tremendous expertise we have access to through our Fellowship and friendship community; in order harness a breadth of knowledge and understanding to the benefit of Scotland and the wider world.
Visit RSE Website