25/06/2026
📢 Invitation to a WELLBEING webinar,
ABSTRACT:
How can policymakers monitor wellbeing when societal conditions change faster than traditional surveys can capture? The first presentation explores the now-casting of subjective wellbeing, using machine learning and high-frequency data to provide continuously updated measures of happiness and life satisfaction. The second introduces a new harmonised European panel dataset containing more than three million observations from nine cross-national surveys, providing annual wellbeing estimates for over 200 European regions between 2000 and 2023. Together, these approaches demonstrate how real-time data, survey harmonisation, andvadvanced analytics can provide more timely, granular, and policy-relevant measures of societal progress.
DATE: 16 July 2026
TIME: 09:30–11:00 Central European Time (CET)
VENUE: Zoom meeting (Online), see registration link below:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cHXBV9pfSIWU89QmvtLI2g
PRESENTATIONS:
Prof Talita Greyling: Director, Centre for Wellbeing, AI and Social Impact (C.WAIS), University of Johannesburg
Prof Martijn Burger: Director, Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organisation (EHERO), Erasmus University Rotterdam
DISCUSSANTS
Arthur Grimes ,Professor of Wellbeing and Public Policy, Victoria University of Wellington & Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
Paul Dolan, Professor of Behavioural Science and Director of the Executive MSc in Behavioural Science, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Jessica Mahoney, Policy Analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Conal Smith, Principal Economist, Kōtātā Insight & OECD Consultant.
During this session, we will:
Explore innovative approaches to measuring subjective wellbeing in real time and across regions; Demonstrate how machine learning and alternative data sources complement traditional surveys; Showcase a new European regional wellbeing panel based on more than three million observations; Discuss how improved wellbeing data can support evidence-based policy.
