The Wilberforce Society
The Wilberforce Society (TWS) is an independent, non-partisan, student think tank, named after MP, Cambridge alumnus and abolitionist William Wilberforce, based at the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 2009 and is a registered charity. TWS aims to "promote constructive and intelligent debate" around the University of Cambridge, and "represents the views of moderate students," offering undergraduates and graduates "the opportunity to become involved with policy conception and analysis with the possibility of genuine impact." TWS follows an independent, diverse and non-partisan policy agenda set by the executive committee, but also carries out commissions for external organisations and public figures, which have included members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Its work has included a major report on Brexit, which was commissioned by Daniel Zeichner MP and presented in-person at the European Parliament. Governance and functioning The Wilberforce Society works in two main areas. Commissioned work comes from both private sector organisations and public bodies. For such assignments, members of the society group into committees, which work corporately over a period of weeks or months to produce a research paper. The paper is presented in an open lecture in front of academics, students, and members