The happiness conference circuit

The happiness conference circuit is, it seems, incredibly busy. This coming Monday and Tuesday there is a two-day conference in Brussels on “Beyond GDP” hosted by the European Commission, European Parliament, Club of Rome, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and World Wildlife Fund. The conference can be watched by webcast via its website.

This conference follows a similar one organised by the OECD in Istanbul in June (see 24 June post). A glossy brochure (PDF) is now available on that one.

Then from 22-28 November in Thailand there is the third international conference on gross national happiness. It will be opened by the prime ministers of Bhutan and Thailand while partners included the Centre for Bhutan Studies and the Japan Foundation. This is followed from December 6-9 in San Diego by the 2007 conference of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies.

Next year there is an International Sociological Association conference in Barcelona from September 5-8 on the role of social indicators in public policy.