Hadaba: Elevating Innovation and Policy Design, an initiative under Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) College of Public Policy (CPP), partnered with Policy Lab, United Kingdom (UK), to host two workshops from September 26 - 27, 2023 underlining how emotions and indigeneity are a critical part of policymaking. 

The first workshop, Indigeneity in Policy: Arts, Emotions, and Culture, discussed how emotions are integral to policy formation due to their potential to affect communication, perception, and even compliance. Sanjan Agarwal, Policy Lab, Head of Innovation and Design, and Dr. Kate Langham, Policy Lab, Co-Design Lead, conducted this session, which also featured a video exhibition and talk by Fatima Javed Shiekh, a Qatar-based ceramic sculptor artist. 

The second workshop, Policymaking at the Edge: Facing Complexity, Embracing Uncertainty, focused on how a design-led approach to policymaking that emphasizes collaboration and a user-centric process can help policymakers tackle dynamic challenges in uncertain settings. Agarwal and Dr. Langham also hosted this session, which also saw Osmany Porto de Oliveira, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), Brazil and Eminent Visiting Policy Scholar, CPP, offer his reflections on their discussion.

“The public sector is currently a place of great innovation, as policymakers look to serve constituencies with increasingly complex needs around the world. Both CPP and Policy Lab are committed to fostering novel ideas in this field, and this partnership embodies the College’s commitment to collaborate with distinguished international partners to facilitate expertise and build capacity in Qatar and beyond,” said Dr. Leslie Pal, Dean, CPP.

Established in 2014 as part of the UK government’s Civil Service Reform Plan, Policy Lab is a UK Department of Education initiative that works to improve policymaking through design, innovation and people-centered approaches.

Hadaba: Elevating Innovation and Policy Design is a groundbreaking CPP initiative that fosters a dynamic community of practice which embraces innovation, experiential learning, and contextually relevant activities. It serves as a catalyst, enhancing connectivity between  experts in the field of public policy and offering customizable tools and resources to the wider community. 

HBKU’s CPP aims to become one of the leading public policy schools in the region and the world and a center for teaching and researching responses to policy questions of local and global relevance. The College builds research capacity and educates future leaders to engage with their communities, acting as a bridge for policy innovations that positively contribute to global public good.