Events

Speakers: Emily Lydgate, Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Sussex

                 Alberto Morales, Policy Analyst at the OECD

                 Ritwika Sengupta, Policy Manager for the British Standards Institution

                 Tim Figures, Partner and Associate Director, EU & Global Trade and Investment London, BCG

Chair: Emily Lydgate, Deputy Director of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) and Deputy Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO) at the University of Sussex

Sustainability and climate governance remains fragmented with multiple overlapping standards, assurance frameworks, and policies, creating challenges not only for businesses and consumers, but also for policymakers trying to address climate issues effectively.

The OECD’s recent report, "Reinforcing Regulatory Frameworks through Standards, Measurements and Assurance", explores the interactions of regulation with the standards and assurance system to deliver public policy outcomes, and the opportunities to leverage and modernise this system to tackle global challenges like the green and digital transitions. With almost every country having national institutions that deliver standards, assurance and measurement, this system cooperates internationally already, facilitating the movement of products and services across borders. There is immense potential to leverage these national standards and assurance systems more strategically to create globally aligned but locally practical governance systems in climate and sustainability.

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Speakers: Amar Breckenridge, Senior Associate at Frontier Economics

                 Michael Gasiorek, Director of the CITP and Co-Director of the UKTPO at the University of Sussex

                 Helen Kennett, Director in the Trade and industrial policy team at Global Counsel

                 George Riddell, Managing Director at Goyder Ltd

Chair: Emily Lydgate, Deputy Director of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) and Deputy Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO) at the University of Sussex

Getting trade policy right can be challenging, and the current global context makes it all the more so. Our recent independent report on UK trade policy – UK Trade Policy: An Independent Review – presents an assessment of UK trade policy, its role in meeting the UK’s broader strategic objectives, and its responses to the actions of partner countries. At this webinar, two of the report’s authors will present the approach taken in the report, and its findings. We will also have some expert comment by Helen Kennett and George Riddell, followed by questions and answers.

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Speakers: Monika Dybowski, Head of Free Trade Agreements Coordination at the Scottish Government

                 Stephen Knox, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Stirling Business

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                 Jane Korinek, Senior Economist, Senior Policy Analyst, Trade and Agriculture Directorate OECD

Chair: Pinar Gunes, Lecturer in Trade at the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) at the University of Sussex Business School

In February 2025, the Scottish Government published the Gender Export Gap Research Report to better understand what is holding women back from exporting and the difference their increased participation in trade could make to Scotland’s economy. The research found that reducing the gender export gap could lead to significant increase in total turnover, by between £3.4 - £10.3 billion over two years. Monika Dybowski from the Scottish Government, and Dr Stephen Knox, co-author of the report, share key insights and policy recommendations from this work.

Jane Korinek, who leads the work on inclusive trade at the OECD’s Trade and Agriculture Directorate, also provides a broad perspective on gender and trade, drawing from studies at global, regional, and country levels that outline how women and men are affected differently by international trade, and policies that can support women business leaders in their journeys on international markets.

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Read the Scottish Government report 

Speakers: Peter Foster, World Trade Editor at the Financial Times

                 Emily Lydgate, Professor of Environmental Law, Deputy Director at CITP/ UKTPO, University of Sussex

                 David Henig, Director of the UK Trade Policy Project, ECIPE

                 William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce

Chair: Ludivine Petetin, a member of the Leadership Team at the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) and Professor of Law at the School of Law and Politics of Cardiff University

This webinar discusses what has and has not been agreed at the UK-EU reset summit that took place on Monday 19 May 2025, and why it matters with a stellar cast of commentators: Peter Foster (Financial Times), Emily Lydgate (CITP/UKTPO, University of Sussex), David Henig (ECIPE) and William Bain (British Chambers of Commerce).

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Speakers: Emily Lydgate, Deputy Director at CITP and Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Sussex

                 Claire Wigg, Head of Climate Performance Practice at Exponential Roadmap

                 Devin McDaniels, Counsellor at the World Trade Organisation

                 Ritwika Sengupta, Net Zero Policy Manager at the British Standards Institution

Chair: Emily Lydgate, Deputy Director at the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy, the UK Trade Policy Observatory and Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Sussex

Despite trade turbulence, standards and regulatory requirements focusing on supply chain emissions are re-shaping trade patterns. The British Standards Institution commissioned the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy to research issues at the intersection of organizational standards, trade and the net-zero transition. Organizational standards that support firms to achieve net zero targets are a relatively new phenomenon. At their best, such standards are strategic drivers of change. But their breadth, emphasis on strategy and the moving target nature of net zero raises challenges. This event brought together the authors of the resulting Report to present their main findings, alongside experts from the WTO Secretariat, BSI and the Exponential Roadmap Initiative, to discuss how to navigate the current challenges facing trading firms in the net-zero transition.

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Speaker: Dmitry Grozoubinski, lead trainer of ExplainTrade and Executive Director at the Geneva Trade Platform

Chair: L. Alan Winters, former Co-Director of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) and Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex

There are elections looming and hard choices to be made about everything from industrial policy to border carbon taxation. The temptation for politicians and candidates alike will be to minimise the trade-offs and hand-wave the complexity. In this webinar, Dmitry Grozoubinski, author of Why Politicians Lie About Trade, discusses these trade-offs and how we can all be better prepared consumers of political rhetoric around trade and trade policy.

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Speaker: Marzia Fontana, Research Associate at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS)

Chair: L. Alan Winters, Co-Director of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) and Professor of Economics at University of Sussex

This webinar presents a report commissioned by Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, authored by Marzia Fontana and Sophie Mitra, on how trade policies and programmes could best promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries. To date, debates on inclusive trade have paid limited attention to the many barriers that people with disabilities face in participating in economic life. Marzia discusses her work to address this lack of visibility by building a framework for understanding the multiple channels through which greater trade integration can affect people with disabilities. She also offers suggestions on how development assistance can be designed to promote disability inclusion in the context of trade expansion.

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Speaker: Fernando Martín, Associate Director at Global Trade Alert

Chair: L. Alan Winters, Co-Director of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) and Professor of Economics at University of Sussex

This webinar discusses the new tracking initiative by Global Trade Alert: The New Industrial Policy Observatory, as well as the main findings of this database regarding industrial and trade policy. The New Industrial Policy Observatory (NIPO) provides insights on the landscape of contemporary industrial policy. With greater focus on digital and energy transitions, as well as the intensification of geopolitical rivalry, policymakers advocate selective policy intervention more often. Whether that has translated into state action and, if so, in what form has not been established empirically. NIPO is a dedicated initiative to track these industrial policy strategies/plans, policies, and awards looking at which governments are using industrial policy and the rationale for its use, what policy tools are governments using, which sectors are being targeted and how much money is being deployed.

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Speakers: Anna Jerzewska, Director at Trade & Borders

                 William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC)

Chair: Michael Gasiorek, Professor of Economics at University of Sussex

This webinar discusses the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) which is due to start in January 2024 and is designed to control imports into the UK. The speakers explain what the BTOM is, and why it matters. Anna, who is a customs and trade expert talks about the background to the BTOM and outlines its key features. William shares his breadth of experience from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) interactions with companies, and from the BCC trade surveys on the extent to which the BTOM addresses customs issues and border checks as well as its policy implications.

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Speaker: Valeria Rueda, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Nottingham

Chair: Michael Gasiorek, Co-Director of the CITP and Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex

Based on insights from recent research, this webinar discusses gender inclusivity in the knowledge production professions with a focus on the role of implicit stereotyping and potential institutional discrimination. The researchers analysed reference letters written in support of more than 3,700 applicants applying for academic positions and uncovered a pervasive disparity in the way male and female candidates are recommended. They found that women are frequently lauded for their hard work and determination, and at times less likely to be praised for their natural talent and show that this perversely affects their career progression.

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Speakers: Emily Lydgate, Professor of Environmental Law at University of Sussex

                 Tim Figures, Associate Director at Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Chair: L. Alan Winters, Co-Director of the CITP and Professor of Economics at University of Sussex

This webinar discusses some of the implications of the EU CBAM for the UK and whether and how the UK should introduce its own. Emily reports on various pieces of analysis undertaken by the CITP and Tim brings a business perspective to the problems.

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Speaker: Peter Foster, Public Policy Editor at Financial Times

Chair: Viviane Gravey, Leadership Team member at CITP and Senior Lecturer in European Politics Queen’s University Belfast

This webinar discusses the challenges of Brexit and, more importantly, the possible fixes, with the Financial Times's public policy editor Peter Foster, whose new book 'What Went Wrong with Brexit' was published by Canongate earlier this month.

In this book, Peter dispels the myths and, most importantly, shows what a better future for Britain after Brexit might look like. With clear-headed practicality, he considers the real costs of leaving the EU, how we can recover international trust in the UK, how to improve cooperation and trade with our neighbours, and how to begin to build the Global Britain that Brexit promised but failed to deliver.

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Speaker: Elisabeth van Lieshout, Trade Policy Analyst at the OECD

Chair: Michael Gasiorek, Co-Director of the CITP and Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex

Elisabeth van Lieshout presents her paper co-authored with Jane Korinek (both of OECD) looking at gendered variations in export behaviour of firms.

Businesses led by women are less likely to export to foreign markets than those led by men. This gender export gap has distributive implications as women-led firms are not able to take equal advantage of the scale and productivity benefits of international trade. We examine this phenomenon using data from almost 10,000 businesses surveyed on Facebook. The results show that both sector and firm size contribute to the observed difference but cannot fully explain it, and also reveal other gendered variation in export behaviour. We explore the challenges that women entrepreneurs face when exporting and review some of the policy levers and programs governments can use to support increased trade by women.

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Speaker: Coree Brown Swan, Lecturer in School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen's University Belfast.

Viviane Gravey, Leadership Team member at CITP and Senior Lecturer in European Politics Queen’s University Belfast

Chair: Emily Lydgate, Professor of Environmental Law at University of Sussex

Dr Coree Brown Swan and Dr Viviane Gravey discuss the challenges of managing regulatory divergence on the UK internal market after Brexit, with a special focus on Single Use Plastics.

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Speakers: Ciaran Cummins, Senior Researcher at NatCen

Daniel Wincott, Researcher within the CITP and Blackwell Professor of Law and Society Cardiff University

Maria Savona, Researcher within the CITP and Professor of Economics of Innovation at SPRU in the University of Sussex.

Chair: L. Alan Winters, Co-Director of the CITP and Professor of Economics at University of Sussex

Over January and February, NatCen and CITP cooperated on a series of citizens’ juries in which small groups of the public discussed a series of trade policy topics designed to draw out how they navigated the trade-offs that are inevitably involved in designing trade policies. The juries, which were held in Belfast, Bridgend, Doncaster, Paisley, and Reading were representative of their local areas and each met five times. This webinar will describe the process and discuss a few of the preliminary results.

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Speaker: Simon J. Evenett, Professor of International Trade and Economic Development at the University of St. Gallen and the Coordinator of Global Trade Alert, the Independent Trade Policy monitor.

Chair: Michael Gasiorek, Co-Director of the CITP and Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex

This webinar includes a presentation on the 30th Global Trade Alert Report titled Must Do Better: Trade & Industrial Policy and the SDGs authored by Simon J. Evenett and Johannes Fritz.

Many governments reckon their trade policies promote environmental improvements, the clean energy transition, improved conditions for workers, and other aspects of sustainable development. Yet many critics and promoters of trade reform pour cold water on the notion that commercial policy should target the Sustainable Development Goals. (SDGs).

To take this discussion forward, this Global Trade Alert Report offers a factual assessment of what commercial policy has contributed to the SDGs since the Agenda 2030 on Sustainable development came into effect in 2016 and how much more it could contribute from here on. Also, the Report tackles head-on the apparent tension between openness and advancing SDGs and puts forward suggestions to resolve it.

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Speakers: Michael Gasiorek, Co-Director of the CITP and Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex

                 Holger Hestermeyer, Professor of International and EU Law at King’s College London

Chair: L. Alan Winters, Co-Director of the CITP and Professor of Economics at University of Sussex

Michael Gasiorek and Holger Hestermeyer assess the state of play on UK-EU economic relations and consider the realistic options going forward.

It is three years since the UK left the EU, and two years since the introduction of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement; and the EU remains, by far, the UK’s principal trading partner for both goods and services. Recent opinion polls suggest a rise in dissatisfaction either with the decision to leave the EU and/or with how Brexit has been implemented, and there are growing discussions in the media regarding how to improve those economic relations. The aim of this webinar is to assess the state of play on UK-EU economic relations and to consider the realistic options going forward, with a view also to the review of the TCA due to occur in 2025.

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