Data and AI can be powerful tools for advancing public value, social inclusion, and improved quality of life when designed and used ethically. Rather than replacing the workforce, AI should support sustainable prosperity and open new ways to understand research questions and address social challenges. This includes unlocking community wellbeing with administrative data, ensuring that technological innovation aligns with citizens’ aspirations, and navigating risks such as the militarisation of AI. Building the right mechanisms, capacities, and governance models is essential to ensuring that science and technology genuinely advance social wellbeing.

This research theme is developing new metrics, data sets and data visualisation tools for improving research on livelihoods and prosperity, but also for delivering new innovations in public services and governance models at local and national levels.

The research is dedicated to developing a citizen approach to data governance and new forms of data commons for enhanced prosperity.