A bridge between scholars and practitioners

The Social Outcomes Conference is the annual convening of the world's leading researchers, policymakers and practitioners working to improve social outcomes, hosted by the Government Outcomes Lab at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

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This year's keynote speaker

We are delighted to announce that the keynote address at this year’s SOC26 will be delivered by Professor Ole Helby Petersen.

Ole is professor in Public Administration at Roskilde University and Director of the Centre for Research on Public-Private Collaboration. His work focuses on public sector contracting, public procurement, and public-private collaboration. He has published extensively in leading journals and is currently leading innovative research projects applying big data, machine learning, and natural language processing to public procurement and contract governance.

In his keynote, Professor Petersen will explore a critical but often overlooked dimension of public contracting: the people in contracts. Building on the importance of sound legal design, he will examine how contracts shape, and are shaped by, the motivations, behaviours, and relationships of buyers, suppliers, and citizens.

Drawing on behavioural economics and public management research, his keynote will challenge us to rethink how contracts can better reflect human motivations, incentives, and perceptions of fairness and justice. He will explore what it means to place people at the centre of contracts, and how contract designs that incorporate both formal and relational elements can help align incentives and improve outcomes across sectors.