Meetings are held every third Friday (except January) in the Wesley Church Hall, Taranaki St, Wellington.

Friday 15 November: Simon Chapple, Director of the Institute of Governance and Policy Studies.

Simon Chapple was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. He became Director of the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies in mid-2017. Previously he has worked domestically in a research and policy advisory capacity for a range of government agencies, including the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the Ministry of Social Development, and the Department of Labour. He has nearly five years of private sector experience at the NZIER. Internationally, he has worked for UNCTAD in Geneva and for five years at the OECD Social Policy Division in Paris. Academically, he has experience as Senior Research Fellow in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Research Unit, Otago University and as an Academic Coordinator in the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington.

His New Zealand research interests cover the labour market, the welfare system and outcomes for children. He has (with Jonathan Boston) authored a book on child poverty in New Zealand. His ongoing research focuses on the government’s social investment approach to labour market, welfare and child policy.