On January 29, 2021, the Centre for Business and Society, LUMS hosted a virtual dialogue forum on "Why Think Tanks Matter in Times of Crisis". This event took place after the 2021 global virtual forum on the same topic, which was organized by the University of Pennsylvania's Think Tanks & Civil Societies Program (TTCSP).
The co-host for this virtual forum was the Centre for Public Policy and Governance (CPPG), Forman Christian College (FCC). The panel included experts from diverse backgrounds who shared their insights on the role of think tanks in Pakistan and academia, while considering a range of political, social, developmental and economic contexts. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Shakeel Sadiq Jajja from Suleman Dawood School of Business – LUMS. Key speakers included Dr. Syed Zahoor Hassan and Dr. Ghazal Mir Zulfiqar from SDSB-LUMS; Dr. Saeed Shafqat, Dr. Rabia Chaudhry, Ms. Saba Shahid and Mr. Raheem ul Haque from CPPG FCC; Mr. Mosharraf Zaidi from TabadLab, Dr. Rabia Akhtar from the University of Lahore, Dr. Azeem Ali Shah from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and Ms. Mehreen Shahzad from WWF-Pakistan.
The Centre for Business and Society, Suleman Dawood School of Business, and LUMS would like to thank all those who participated in this event. We hope that this will lead to a series of national-level forums and a local network of think tanks will emerge following this initial event through which there can be open discussion and advocacy for evidence-based policymaking.
A recording of the discussion can be viewed here.
