RSA Events

Award-winning comedian and broadcaster Robin Ince unites comedy and science in this hilarious, informative and touching exploration of the human condition. Informed by deeply personal insights as well as interviews with some of the world's top comedians, neuroscientists and psychologists, Ince calls on us embrace the full breadth of our inner experience - no matter how strange we worry it may be!...

In his Albert Medal lecture, Citizens UK founder Neil Jameson presents a roadmap for radical change, charting a course to major systemic change in politics and public life. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Tuesday 20th November 2018. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2018/11/reweaving-the-fabric-of-society

Acclaimed social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores how we can create institutions and public spaces that foster viewpoint diversity and mutual understanding, and where people can civilly and constructively disagree. Just as the Enlightenment coffeehouse did in its day, the advent of social media has brought down barriers to participation in public discourse. More people than ever take part in p...

Ted Howard, community wealth building visionary, shows how we might dramatically expand the vision and reality of democratic political economy. What kind of economy is suited for living inside a democracy? How might we redesign our local economies – from the community level up to the national – in order to produce more equitable, inclusive and sustainable outcomes that benefit the largest number o...

Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin talks to C4 broadcaster Jon Snow about the qualities that make truly great leaders - those who summon their talents to enlarge the opportunities and lives of others. In today’s polarized world, stories of authentic leadership in times of apprehension and fracture take on a singular urgency, offering essential lessons for aspiring and established leaders...

A panel gathers in honour of David Marquand to reflect on the state of social democracy today, and examine how progressive politics can invigorate our society. Amidst the rise of populism and anti-democratic sentiment, it’s often easy to feel pessimistic about the survival prospects of liberal and social democratic values. But the threats to progress stand alongside great opportunities, and progre...

What does joy look like? Designer Ingrid Fetell Lee exposes the power of ordinary things to create extraordinary happiness, and shows us how to find joy in the world around us. Our surroundings can have a profound effect on our wellbeing. Seeing flowers can improve our memories, looking at nature scenes reduces prisoner violence, and better sunlight increases our productivity at work – we can live...

LBC broadcaster and online talk show sensation, James O’Brien, shows how to dismantle small minds, expose falsehoods and conquer prejudice. The age of politely agreeing to disagree is over. O’Brien has become a breakout media star, with a million people tuning in each week to hear him trumping countless guests and politicians into total silence with his inimitable interview technique. But how does...

The world is rapidly changing and the future is more unknown than ever – Jens Beckert and Richard Bronk explore the narratives and predictions we use to help navigate economic uncertainty. We all make decisions with an eye to the future; we form expectations, calculate likelihoods, and predict the outcomes of every action we take. But in a culture of restless innovation, we can’t always be sure th...

What can hidden histories teach us about multiracial society in Britain today? With author Emma Dabiri, footballer Eartha Pond and gal-dem deputy editor Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff. Emma’s status as a professional footballer, in one of Britain’s earliest women’s football matches in 1895 attended by thousands of paying spectators, is hugely significant. That she travelled the country, accompanied by wi...

Sir Ian Cheshire welcomes an expert panel to discuss the interim findings of the RSA’s Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. Since the Commission launched last autumn, we’ve reviewed 1000 policy proposals, and hosted roundtables and discussions to explore the current policy domain. We’ve cycled right round the UK to meet people in their communities and workplaces, and set up separate long-term...

Migration has long been a high-profile political issue. A panel including HOPE Not Hate’s Rosie Carter gathers to discuss the state of the conversation and how and why public opinion has shifted over time. Research suggests that public attitudes towards immigration in the UK are less extreme than national headlines and social media would have us believe, but it remains a contentious subject. Migra...

Award-winning social psychologist Michele Gelfand explains how the clash between ‘tight’ and ‘loose’ cultures drives many of our most polarised and intractable global challenges. With rave reviews from heavyweights such as Steven Pinker, Robert Cialdini, Anne-Marie Slaughter and Carol Dweck, Professor Michele Gelfand’s ‘ground-breaking analysis’ of cultural divides ‘Rule Makers, Rule Breakers’ has...

Youth champion Ruth Ibegbuna; Sam Conniff Allende, chair, Generation Change; Dame Julia Cleverdon, founder, Step Up To Serve; and education activist Adam Ramgoolie on young people leading change. As the RSA launches its latest report ‘Teenagency: how young people are changing the world’, which reveals the continued gulf between public perceptions and the reality of young people’s experiences and a...

First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon delivers a speech on the current state of play of the UK Government’s Brexit negotiations and the future of the UK and Europe. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Monday 15th September 2018. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2018/10/keynote-address-by-first-minister-of-scotland

How can we tackle our ignorance about what the world is really like? Bobby Duffy, Director of Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute, explains how we can get a handle on the facts in a ‘post-truth’ era. Evidence suggests that most of us are very wrong about what goes on in the world around us. Misinformation in the media is a growing worry, but it’s not all about fake news. No matter how impartial w...

Child and adolescent mental health is in the headlines almost daily. How can we support young people’s wellbeing and build mentally healthy school communities? Join our expert panel as they share the latest insights. The issue was identified as one of the “burning injustices” of our time by the Prime Minister during her first Downing Street address. Whilst the problem has been rising up the politi...

Sociologist and best-selling author Eric Klinenberg shows how social infrastructure holds the key to health, happiness, safety and healing our divided society. Too often we take for granted and neglect our libraries, parks, markets, schools, playgrounds, gardens and communal spaces, but decades of research now show that these places can have an extraordinary effect on our personal and collective w...

Urban designer Don Carter explores routes to recovery and revitalisation for post-industrial cities and communities. His newest book is Remaking Post-Industrial Cities: Lessons from North America and Europe, documenting ten case studies and common themes from the international Remaking Cities Congress he co-chaired in Pittsburgh. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 20th September 2...

To mark 50 years of the International Baccalaureate, our panel asks: what kind of education do we need now to enable young people to flourish the 21st century? With Anthony Seldon, David Willetts and Naomi Climer. The International Baccalaureate is today offered by 4,871 schools across the world, to nearly 160,000 students each year through four different programmes. In the UK it is offered by 140...

To celebrate the launch of the 2018/19 Student Design Awards, Cat Drew, director at Uscreates, calls on service designers to question systemic issues of power and culture. Uscreates is a service design agency specialising in health and wellbeing where Cat leads work for local and national government around citizen-led innovation and place-based change. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Tu...

Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency will speak about the damaging consequences of climate change and the need for urgent action to protect and improve the environment. Extreme weather, increasing temperatures and sea level rise are all now a scientifically proven reality. Climate change is simply the biggest issue there is, and we should be alarmed. But there is still time t...

Journalist and author Ian Kearns warns of the dangers faced by a European Union on the brink of collapse – and issues a call to action to defend peace and progress in Europe. The momentous Brexit vote has thrown the future of the EU into doubt, and the rise of terrorism, the refugee crisis, growing Euroscepticism, and threats from both East and West have cast a shadow over Europe. Warnings over th...

Afua Hirsch and Matthew Taylor discuss Britain's current identity crisis at Wilderness Festival. Britain is a nation experiencing an identity crisis – populist movements attempt to draw us back to a nostalgic vision of homogenous, white Britain, whilst demographic changes see our cities more diverse and multi-dimensional than ever. How do we tackle issues like racism, identity and belonging agains...

Academic and writer Danny Dorling argues that Britain has finally reached peak inequality, and immediate action is needed to defuse Britain’s ticking time bomb. The chasm between rich and poor has had dire implications for our health, housing, education, demography, and politics. Today more than 99% are losing out. So how do we become more equal this time? And without a full-blown civil war? This...