Abstract

Sean Innis will outline current activities and plans for the ANU Public Policy and Societal Impact Hub.  His presentation will look at what services the Hub provides and how these support ANU making a greater contribution to public policymaking in Australia.  Sean will also take the opportunity to reflect on some key issues that confront academics who seek to influence public policy.

Biography

Sean Innis is inaugural Director of Public Policy and Societal Impact Hub at the Australian National University. The Hub was formed in January 2018 and reflects ANU’s commitment to fostering the deep policy conversations needed to define the “world we want by 2060”.

Sean is a former senior public servant, with more than 25 years of public policy experience. He was Special Adviser (akin to Commissioner) to Australia’s independent Productivity Commission in 2016 and 2017 and held senior executive positions in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Social Services. Sean chaired the Prime Ministerial Welfare to Work Task Force in 2005 and led the secretariat responsible for the 2004 Energy White Paper - Securing Australia’s Energy Future.

In his past, Sean has been an ordinary university tutor and a terrible bank teller.