THE WILBERFORCE SOCIETY

The oldest student think tank in the UK, based at the University of Cambridge

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ABOUT US

The Wilberforce Society was founded in 2009 as an independent student think-tank with the mission of promoting constructive and intelligent debate in Cambridge.

TWS prides itself on producing rigorously researched, non-partisan policy papers on pertinent issues, which have included ‘The Brexit Report’, a comprehensive analysis of the impact of Brexit on Cambridge, which was presented at the European Parliament.

TWS also holds regular events with leading academics and experts on policy issues and current affairs. The highlight of our speaker events is The Wilberforce Society’s Annual Conference, held in Lent Term.

About us

HISTORY

It is from William Wilberforce, MP and abolitionist, that we take our name. While a student at St John’s College, Cambridge from 1776 to 1781, he became close friend to future Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger. With other great men including William Grenville, they formed a circle of friends that proved to be a powerful force in British politics between the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Though he never became Prime Minister, as the two aforementioned men did, Wilberforce established a formidable reputation in his early parliamentary career as a great independent member and a leading orator of his day. The first of these qualities is our foremost reason for adopting his name. But we take it also to honour his extraordinary achievement in leading the work towards the abolition of Britain’s slave trade, the first of any major slave-trading nation to make such a reform.

While we are not constrained by the often very conservative positions that Wilberforce was to adopt in his later career, we strive to devise proposals that encompass compassion and understanding akin to that which he espoused.

History

PROJECTS

Research

Behavioural Insights and Public Policy: The Evolution and Limits of Nudge Governance

Full Paper

Labour Market Flexibility: Assessing and Adapting to the Changing Nature of Labour Supply in the 21st Century

Full Paper

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Digital Journal

Sizing Up Small Modular Reactors

Written by Juno Chowla-Song Edited by Shreya Devani Interest in nuclear energy is rebounding after a long decline, and small modular reactors (SMRs) have stolen the spotlight.[1] There are more than 120 SMR designs at different stages of development, with most being targeted for the early 2030s.[2] These modern nuclear generators are intended to be compact, factory-built and scalable, allowing them to decarbonise energy systems and build energy resilience while meeting rapidl

Guinea's Great Game

Written by Benjamin Wishart Edited by Camilo Pallasco-Prophette Resource nationalism, Sino-American rivalry and the limits of sovereign statecraft between resource curse and resource imperialism Guinea-Conakry presents one of the starkest paradoxes in African political economy. It sits atop some vastly valuable resource endowments: the world's largest bauxite reserves, and the highest-grade untapped iron ore in the Simandou mountains - and yet it remains tethered to the botto

The GDP trap: why Starmer cannot change what he will not question.

Written by Billy Gilbey Edited by Bhing Turongpun The core of Starmer’s government can be found in the Labour Party’s 2024 manifesto. The front-cover contains only a picture of Starmer and the word “change”. More precisely, change for Starmer is the recovery of “two fundamental beliefs"[1] - “first, that politics should be driven by a sense of service"[2], and secondly that Britain must “respect your contribution and give you a fair chance."[3] Workers’ ‘fair chance’, the man

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