Geoff Mulgan is the CEO of the charity NESTA, and former policy director of Number 10 Downing Street, co-founder of Demos, former CEO of the Young Foundation, and a pioneering figure in the ‘politics of well-being’ over the last 20 years.

We discuss what governments and organisations can do to promote well-being and mitigate loneliness. What can universities do to promote wellbeing in their local communties, particularly through evening education, and why are academics so suspicious of the politics of wellbeing? And why is he so embarrassed to discuss his training as a Buddhist monk?

Further links:

Here’s an upcoming anthology of academic essays on the politics of well-being.

Here’s Mulgan’s TEDX talks on measuring happiness.

Here’s Demos’ 1998 essay collection, The Good Life.

And here’s some of the Young Foundation’s work on belonging.