Read our Annual Review
Spotlight 2020-2021
Last year brought what often
felt like an avalanche of
challenges. The global COVID-19
pandemic caused devastating
personal, social, and economic
consequences; extreme weather
events underscored the impact
of climate change; acts of racial
injustice laid bare tensions
and inequalities; and political
turbulence highlighted a growing
polarisation and erosion of trust
in civic institutions. Yet, to move
forward and restore resilience,
sustainability, and justice to
our communities, we must put
lessons learned into practice.
Evidence and objective analysis
are needed to find lasting,
effective solutions to these
wicked problems.
At RAND Europe, we want
our research to be integral to
forming workable solutions.
This year’s Spotlight highlights
selected projects that
responded to challenges arising
from COVID-19, including a
macroeconomic model to
analyse ‘vaccine nationalism’
impacts; rapid research on
providing high-quality healthcare
under COVID-19 constraints;
and finding ways to tackle
domestic violence, which
increased during lockdowns.
We also responded to other
policy challenges beyond
the pandemic. This issue of
Spotlight features, for example
a machine-learning model to
fight online disinformation;
a framework to assess
climate change challenges
systematically; and an analysis
of emerging cybercrime threats.
Our goal is to provide high-quality
research and analysis
that can improve people’s lives.
In 2021, we have ambitious
plans to broaden RAND
Europe’s impact by exploring
how philanthropic gifts could
allow us to examine new and
cross-cutting areas of policy
importance. We are excited by
the opportunities this will create
to build on our existing issue-based
work and deliver deeper
insights for our stakeholders
and wider society.
— Hans Pung
Read the report