We are pleased to announce that the researchers of the Leeds Policy Institute had the pleasure of attending and presenting their research at the 2026 British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR), hosted by the University of Glasgow.

The US/Israeli strikes on Iran and the subsequent rise in the price of oil to a 4-year high has once again swung the spotlight onto Britain’s precarious energy composition and the ease with which geopolitical crises abroad destabilises domestic economic activity. Spelled out in Labour’s 2024 manifesto was the pledge to reduce foreign energy reliance by accelerating the transition to domestic renewables; and while a step in the right direction, complete upheaval of the current

Leeds Policy Institute hosts yearly conference with the Leeds Economics Society

LPI's Sasha Johnson writes for On Think Tanks

...and What Labour Can Learn From It

Is a Four-Day Week Economically Viable and Politically Feasible?

Should all states be held equally responsible for implementing climate policy despite huge differences in contributions to climate-related issues?

Planning Policy, Credit Distortion, and the Roots of Britain’s Economic Stagnation

To fight the tide of populism, the EU must devolve from supranationalism to intergovernmentalism

Why is gold resurging and the world slowly losing trust in US bonds?

NIMBYism and the modern British crisis of scarcity

This iteration had some real brain teasers

What More Should be Done to Combat Chinese Espionage in the UK?

Why undervaluing skilled workers breaks public services and what a fair pay strategy could fix

Speculation, mixed signals, and shifting promises are quietly damaging economic confidence - and the government must rethink its approach.

Head of Media & Communications Hubert Kucharski writes for the Financial Times

A polite request: No debating Tom vs. Summer in the comments

How Gen Z is shaping world politics through protests and social media. In an era marked by institutional distrust, it is not anyone else but a generation, widely criticised for having lived in ‘easier times’ and not having endured real hardship, that ended up leading the charge for change in many countries faced with prolonged institutional failure. Something that the generations before them failed to achieve. The echoes of the protests, led by Generation Z, will forever res

Why economic growth is no longer translating into poverty reduction

European Lessons from Trump’s failed Ukraine Deal Trump’s 28-point-peace plan leaked on 19 November ; since then, the plan fell through and much has been discussed about how much Russia stood to gain from the deal and how Trump bent to Putin’s will. Conspicuously, little has been said of the European role in the creation as well as execution of the failed peace plan. Considering the implications of this plan for the EU, it would behoove Europeans to reflect on how their wea

Leeds Policy Institute Awarded ‘Building for the Future’ Grant to Host Major Multi-Regional Conference

Why the UK should have increased development spending levels in the wake of USAID’s dismantling?

Eat the rich

Why does the UK’s consumption still fuel Indonesia’s deforestation?

How the UK’s new asylum system is reshaping the the futures of refugees

Leveraging National Security to Reshape Britain’s Political Landscape

Schrödinger’s Prime Minister is running out of nine lives; ambiguity carried him into power, but it certainly will not carry him through to the next general election.