Economic Secretary, Ed Balls MP opened the new Bristol Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Bristol  today, Friday 25 May 2007. He made a speech on financial inclusion and saving and took questions afterwards. Other speakers included Professor Ian Diamond, chief executive of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

The Bristol Institute of Public Affairs aims to establish itself as the foremost location for national and international research on public affairs, comparable to the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (Princeton). The institute currently comprises three leading research centres within the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law at the University of Bristol: The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, The Centre for Multilevel Modelling and The Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship.

The Centre for Market and Public Organisation is a leading research centre, combining expertise in economics, geography and law. It has received over £8m in research grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Leverhulme Trust. The head of the centre is Professor Simon Burgess, an expert on labour economics, education and poverty. Staff include Professor Paul Gregg, former economic advisor to the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, and Professor Carol Propper, chair of the ESRC grants board.

The Centre for Multilevel Modelling focuses on the development of innovative approaches to, and software for quantitative social-science research. It is an ESRC-funded national research methods node. The head of the centre is Professor Jon Rasbash and other members of staff include Professors Kelvyn Jones and Harvey Goldstein.

 The Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship co-ordinates and promotes the study of ethnicity. One of its projects, run jointly with the Migration Research Unit at University College London, is the Leverhulme Programme on Migration and Citizenship, which receives over £1 million from The Leverhulme Trust. The head of the centre is Professor Tariq Modood, an expert on racial equality, multiculturalism and ethnic identities

The Bristol Institute of Public Affairs is at 2 and 3 Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TX and is no. 52 on the University of Bristol map.

Ed Balls was appointed economic secretary to the Treasury on 5 May 2006. He has been a Member of Parliament for Normanton since 2005. He was chief economic adviser to the HM Treasury 1999-2004.