Experts from the Institute for Welfare State Research (IWSR) at Yonsei University, South Korea, will join the University of Bath Institute for Policy Research (IPR) on campus this week for a two-day conference.

Taking place 13-14 June, colleagues from across IWSR, IPR, the Department of Social and Policy Sciences and the Department of Education will come together to share their research on social security, the labour market and public health in the UK and South Korea.

Arranged as part of an academic partnership with Yonsei University, sponsored by the UKRI Fund for International Collaboration, the conference seeks to explore what lessons can be learned for post-pandemic recovery and reform. Across panel sessions and presentations open to staff and students across the University of Bath, several key core areas will be covered including lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic for welfare state reform; automation, technology, employment and the labour share; universal basic income; and the social investment state in the UK and Korea pre-and-post-pandemic.

On the conference and collaboration with IWSR, Director of the IPR, Professor Nick Pearce, adds:

"We are delighted to welcome scholars from the Institute of Welfare State Research at Yonsei University to Bath. There is much to be learned from the comparative study of the UK and the Republic of Korea during the Covid pandemic for welfare state and labour market reform. This is the first of two conferences this year at which we will explore these research issues.

Director of the IWSR, Professor Young Jun Choi, adds:

"After a very productive conference in Seoul in 2018, we are very pleased to again hold an academic seminar by the Institute for Welfare State Research at Yonsei University and the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Bath. I believe that life after Covid-19 will be very different from before. Through this academic event, I hope that we can find ways to keep people’s lives happy and healthy, and to create a sustainable society and economy."