AI is already here and every public, private and third sector body in Scotland has to understand what it is going to mean for them. Its impact will be deep and wide ranging, so what do organisations need to do to understand it, react to it and adapt to it?

This conference will take place online.

Freedom of Information in Scotland has become both an effective tool for public accountability in Scotland and a growing demand on the resources of our public sector bodies. However, questions over compliance, scope, operation and cost have increasingly come to the fore. What do Scottish bodies covered by FOI – and others that may be pulled into its reach – need to know about where we stand and what may be coming next?

This conference takes place online.

Emergency planning, resilience, business continuity and risk reduction are the activities we plan, practice and train for in the hope they will never be needed.  They mitigate the worst when it happens and bring assurance and stability when it does not.  However, the threats presented to normal order are magnified by local, national and international events which can bring instability to our own front door.  The consequences of globally linked economies in bad times.  The potential public health effects of diseases on intimately linked societies.  Open and interwoven digital worlds across national borders.  A destabilised international order.  Increasingly turbulent effects of climate change.  The impact of economic downturn on lower public investment and safety and quality outcomes.  Then there are the kinds of accidents and disasters which can occur in good or bad times.  So how do we plan for the unexpected, ensure that we learn from every opportunity, collaborate to maximise best practice and keep our emergency planning and resilience practitioners, and our responders at every tier, well-resourced and able to prevent and react?

This conference will take place online.

Managing our schools well is critically important, but the challenge is getting harder with constrained resources and a variety of increasing demands.  More of everything is needed, so what is the way forward?

This conference will take place online.

The 2016 Programme for Government pledged to substantially eliminate the poverty and attainment gap within a decade.  A tough enough challenge to achieve.  Since then, COVID has impacted massively on education, childhood development, the economy, incomes, benefits and curriculum delivery.  So where do we now stand in attempting to eradicate by 2026 what may be the biggest driver of long term inequality in Scotland?

This conference will take place online.