The first Commonwealth Study Conference held in Oxford, United Kingdom in 1956 to study the human aspects of industrial issues across Commonwealth countries. The founder of the conference, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, described it as "an extraordinary experiment" that provided an opportunity for people from all over the Commonwealth and all walks of life to leave their usual roles and, with a diverse group of people, examine the relationship between industry and the community around it. The participants are drawn from all sectors of society and particularly included people from government bodies,

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

(NGOS),

trade unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

and businesses. On average 300 people attend such a conference. Since 1956 ten separate Commonwealth Study Conferences have taken place, variously hosted in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. A number of related Regional conferences have also been held.

History

In 2006 a comprehensive 204 page book ''Leadership In The Making'' was published in Canada, celebrating 50 years since the first conference in 1956. Prince Philip described how the idea came about:

"The idea for the conference arose as a result of my visit to Canada in 1954. I had asked to visit some of the new and developing industries in Canada's far north on the way home from the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver.

"Two things struck me. The great majority of these developments were 'single-industry' enterprises, and in most cases the towns associated with the industries were 'company towns'. This is not typical for an industrialised country, but it had the effect of drawing my attention to one of the basic problems faced by industrial communities. While a company in control of an industrial enterprise has to be based on a system of managerial and technical qualifications, the town in which all the workers and the management have to live needs to be managed by some democratic system involving all the inhabitants as citizens.

"The purpose of the conference was to look into the tensions, problems and opportunities created by this dichotomy between industrial enterprise and community development."

History

Notes

Further reading