Join us to hear the latest economic insights from the quarterly survey of over 2000 people in Scotland. Scott Edgar, Senior Research Manager at the Diffley Partnership, will present the latest findings which track economic confidence and buying intentions over time, as well as helping us to understand and monitor economic attitudes and public opinion.
The insights will be from new data, that will be collected in the first week of February 2025.
Following Scott we will hear reflections on the new data from Gary Gillespie, Chief Economist for the Scottish Government and Kathryn Welch, Interim Director of Culture Counts.
The event is kindly hosted by The Phoenix Group.
Registration, breakfast and networking from 8.15am. Presentation and discussion commences promptly at 8.45am. The event will finish at 9.45am.
For those of you unable to make it along in person, please tune in online - register to the receive the link direct to you inbox. Please note that the livestream will commence at 8.45am.
About the speakers:
Scott Edgar, Senior Research Manager, The Diffley Partnership
Scott joined the Diffley Partnership following previous roles in social research in the Electoral Commission and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Since joining the business he has managed a wide range of research projects including two of Diffley Partnership’s regular quarterly surveys in Understanding Scotland and Understanding Business.
Scott has significant expertise in statistical data analysis, research design, management of research projects and communication and has worked on several high profile and high impact projects. He has a degree in Political Research from the University of Strathclyde.
Gary Gillespie, Chief Economist, Scottish Government
Gary was appointed Director and Scottish Government Chief Economic Adviser in 2011. He joined the civil service in 2000 from the Fraser of Allander Institute (University of Strathclyde) where his research interests included Scottish economy, regional economic modelling and foreign direct investment.
Gary provides economic advice to the First Minister and Ministers across a range of strategic economic issues. He publishes regular assessments of the State of the Economy and analysis of key impacts (EU Exit, Covid, Supply chain disruption, inflation etc.) on changes in the Scottish and UK economies. He is a regular participant in economic discussion across Scotland, UK and internationally. He leads engagement on the Wellbeing Economy Government (WEGo) network which was instigated in 2018 and seeks to share best practise in delivering international change.
Gary was made an Honorary Professor at Glasgow Caledonian University in January 2011 and was appointed to the role of Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde in 2015. He was also appointed a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2017.
Kathryn Welch, Interim Director, Culture Counts
Kathryn is Interim Director of Culture Counts, a network of arts, heritage, and creative industries organisations that works to promote, protect and demystify the culture sector in Scotland. She sits on the Scottish Government's Culture Fair Work Taskforce, and is regularly invited to represent the sector in Parliament, with funders, and in the media. Prior to this role, Kathryn led Creative Scotland's Culture Collective programme, and held senior positions with Creative Lives and Macrobert Arts Centre.
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Image credit - sharing thumbnail image by Tommao Wang free licence from Unsplash 04.12.2025