‘After the Pandemic’ conference series, run by Laurier’s International Centre for Economic Analysis, starts Friday

Laurier’s International Centre for Economic Analysis (ICEA) is hosting a series of conferences on the topic of life after the COVID-19 pandemic. The first of these will be this Friday, Oct. 29.

ICEA is a non-profit organization meant to bring together researchers to share ideas with each other.  

“It’s dedicated to developing links between people […] and promoting the highest standard of economic analysis,” said the director of the centre and Laurier professor of economics, Jurek Konieczny.

The series, called “After the Pandemic”, features ten already-planned presentations on topics ranging from public health to working from home. They will run from October through to early 2022, although more presentations are planned to be held besides these.

The keynote speakers for the conferences include accomplished academics from Yale, Stanford, Harvard and Laurier, among other universities. 

Although there are drawbacks to holding the conferences virtually, there are also some benefits as well. Namely, it has allowed contributors from across the world to participate.

“We could not possibly do [this many] in-person conferences,” Konieczny said. 

“Online conferences are much easier, both to organize and for people to participate. In the first conference we have people from every continent,” he continued. “So, there are some benefits and there are some problems.”

While the window for students to register for the first conference is over, registration for the second conference, on inequality, will be open until Oct. 27. It will be held from November fifth through sixth.

“Anyone who would consider going to a regular economic conference would benefit from this one as well,” Konieczny said.  The ICEA is also accepting research papers to be included in the conference series. More information about the event can be found on their website.