Technology, Data & Public Policy: An Introductory Guide to Governance, Ethics, and Innovation

Details of the #WebPolicyLearning:

Dates: April (3, 10, 17, 24) & May (1, 8), 2027
Six Consecutive Saturdays
Time: 4 – 6 p.m. IST
Platform: Zoom 

Registration Form: https://forms.gle/17GcZKA63rQaE6yG6

Course Fee in INR (inclusive of GST): Professionals: INR TBA| Students: INR TBA

Special 20 percent discount for IMPRI Alumni. Bulk Discounts can be availed for groups of more than 5 participants. IMPRI Alumni can avail benefits through the IMPRI Referral Policy for Alumni & Friends.

Payment of Course Fee: https://rzp.io/rzp/coursefeesimpri
Alternatively, can use any payment method from here: https://www.impriindia.com/payment-details/

Technology and data now sit at the centre of how the Indian state delivers welfare, collects taxes, polices streets, runs cities and protects, or fails to protect, citizens’ rights. Yet most people interested in public policy never get a plain-language introduction to how this works: where government data comes from, what Aadhaar, UPI and the India Stack actually do, what happens when the system fails at the last mile, and what rules govern privacy, surveillance and artificial intelligence.

This twelve-session introductory online certificate course, convened by IMPRI, is built for anyone curious about public policy, with no technical background needed. It moves through four modules: how governments use technology and data; how India’s core digital systems work; the rights, rules and risks around personal data, surveillance and cybersecurity; and frontier applications in artificial intelligence, climate, health and cities. Each one-hour session combines a practitioner’s presentation with live Q&A, and the course closes with a hands-on lab on turning a technology observation into a two-page policy brief.

Open to researchers, practitioners, students, civil servants and citizens, the programme aims to move from curiosity to understanding, and from understanding to a policy idea worth publishing.

Key Themes & Focus Areas

• The Basics: How Governments Use Technology and Data. From paper files to digital governance and GovTech, where official data comes from and how it shapes welfare schemes, and how open data and citizen dashboards support accountability.
• The Core Systems: How Digital India Works. Digital Public Infrastructure and the India Stack (Aadhaar, UPI, Account Aggregator), what happens at the last mile when systems fail, and how smart cities and municipal dashboards function.
• Rights, Rules and Real-World Risks. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, surveillance and civil liberties, facial recognition and algorithmic bias, and cyber threats to citizens and critical infrastructure.
• Frontiers and Applying What You Learn. Artificial intelligence in public services, satellites, GIS and digital health records, and how to write a two-page policy brief.

This course is structured for public policy practitioners, early-career researchers, data analysts, civil society and NGO professionals, development sector leaders, civil servants, and undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students. No technical or coding background is needed. Anyone interested in public policy can follow it.

Participants would:

• Learn from nationally and internationally renowned economists and practitioners
• Gain first-hand insights and networking opportunities
• Get the course outline and a curated pre-session reading kit of policy briefs, working papers and data snippets
• Get access to session videos for 15 days
• Receive a certificate of completion
• Have the opportunity to publish their course reflection article on the IMPRI Insights Blog, which features articles of eminent people from around the globe

Upon successful completion of the program, each participant will be awarded a Certificate of Completion.

Chair:

Experts:

coming soon

Convener:
Dr Simi Mehta, CEO & Editorial Director, IMPRI
Dr Arjun Kumar, Director, IMPRI, New Delhi