RSA Events

It may be a post-pollster, post-pundit, post-truth landscape – but can we predict where the world goes from here? An extraordinary US presidential election campaign has resulted in an outcome that few could have predicted at its outset: Donald J Trump will become the 45th US President of the United States. The implications of this historic decision are, for now, highly unpredictable, and for many,...

At a time of low growth and increasing income inequality, innovation-led growth is more necessary than ever. But, just as it needs it most, has capitalism lost its ability to adapt, experiment and invent? Director of the European Centre for International Political Economy Fredrik Erixon and innovation strategist Bjorn Weigel argue that companies and policy makers are actually hindering innovation,...

We bring together representatives from civil society, thinktanks, and the media in a panel discussion to explore how we can improve the quality of public discussion about the economy – and, in doing so, change economics itself for the better.

The RSA's Vikki Heywood CBE joined the Bristol Distinguished Lecture Series. Listen back as she discusses her Chairmanship of the Warwick Commission 2015 “Enriching Britain: Culture Creativity and Growth” and examines the strengths of our creative nation in the new world order post Brexit. Watch the pre-address interview as Vikki Heywood answers selected questions: ow.ly/2wA630590R9 For more infor...

Best-selling author and TED talk sensation Simon Sinek is fascinated by the people that make the greatest impact in their organisations, and in the world. He has discovered some remarkable patterns in how they think, act and communicate, and the environments in which people operate at their natural best. In his new book Together is Better Simon Sinek has distilled many of these insights into a ser...

Using research from neuroscience, psychology, social science, as well as captivating examples of real people doing extraordinary things, renowned ‘Undercover Economist’ Tim Harford explains that the human qualities we value: creativity, responsiveness, and resilience, are integral to the disorder, confusion, and disarray that produce them. Harford visits the RSA to help us understand why unexpecte...

Ed Vaizey MP offers six lessons from six years as arts minister, and addresses future challenges and opportunities for cultural policy, and the role of the arts in society. Ed Vaizey was the UK’s longest serving culture minister, serving from 2010-2016 in senior government roles encompassing culture, communications and the digital economy. He remains a vocal champion for the UK’s arts and cultural...

Academics Helen Margetts and Peter John explain how social media are now inextricably intertwined with the political behaviour of ordinary citizens. Margetts and John visit the RSA to show large-scale data and experimentation that explore how such dynamics inject turbulence into politics, which is increasingly characterized by instability, unpredictability and often unsustainability. These pattern...

Award-winning filmmaker Raoul Martinez visits the RSA to reflect on one of the most urgent questions of our time – are we really free? Informed by over a decade of research, Martinez will lift the veil on the mechanisms of control that pervade our lives, from the lottery of our birth to the consent-manufacturing influence of concentrated wealth and power. Tackling economics, philosophy, politics,...

Depending on who you ask, our current generation of youngsters are either ‘snowflakes’ in need of greater resilience, or the product of the economic, political and social insecurity that has come to define our times, creating new pressures which have helped to drive up rates of mental distress. What implications does this have for policy making in the UK, and how can we deliver on government commi...

Co-founder of n+1 magazine and one of the most highly acclaimed essayists in the US today, Mark Greif is one of the most exciting writers of his generation. His essays examine the vicissitudes of everyday life under twenty-first-century capitalism, and he repeatedly challenges us to rethink the world and demand something better. What is the right way to be and act given the many local and global c...

In her part-manual, part-manifesto “Feminist Fightclub”, journalist and critic Jessica Bennett brings together the personal stories of a group of women who met regularly in New York City to explore and confront the external (sexist) and internal (self-sabotaging) behaviors that continue to plague women in the workplace —as well as the system that perpetuates them. At the RSA, Jessica Bennett joins...

What separates effective communicators from truly successful persuaders? The world’s foremost expert on influence reveals the results of three decades of research. Thirty years in the making, Robert Cialdini’s new book Pre-Suasion is the eagerly awaited follow-up to his bestselling, genre-defining Influence. Cialdini’s latest research shows that the secret to persuasion doesn’t lie in the message...

With his AI project DeepMind, Demis Hassabis has said he is leading “an Apollo programme for the 21st century”. But how far can AI really take us? Demis Hassabisis the co-founder and CEO of DeepMind, a neuroscience-inspired AI company, acquired by Google in 2014. He is now Vice President of Engineering at Google DeepMind and leads their general AI efforts, including the development of AlphaGo, the...

The rapid pace of technological innovation has an enormous impact on the economy and society. Spreading the gains of technological progress calls for significant system change in education, work and wider learning, to ensure that everyone has access to the power, resources and opportunities to work, create, connect and learn. In his President’s Lecture for 2016, Simon Nelson will explore how incre...

How can we support teachers to keep improving throughout their careers? What does the very best teacher training and professional development look like? And how do we ensure that it is designed for maximum impact on the education and life chances of those who need it most? At the RSA, our expert panel assess the rationale for, and likely impact and implications of, the new standards, and share the...

What does the revolution in work mean for us today? With an ever-increasing divide between the rich and the rest, the traditional solutions – improved education or wage subsidiaries, for example – will no longer work as they once did. In order to navigate our way across today’s rapidly transforming economic landscape, we must radically reassess the very idea of how, and why, we work. Join the Econ...

What are the benefits and risks of the increasing scale and power of data assets controlled by governments and corporations? In a time of rapid advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, if we are to make better use of the vast quantities of data produced by new technologies - from gene sequencing to driverless cars – it’s crucial to mitigate the risks as well as embracing the advan...

In its recent ‘Five Year Forward View’, the NHS set out a bold new vision for its future. In the face of ever growing pressure on services, the report argues the need for large-scale transformation and new models of care if we are to maintain a sustainable and universal health service. What exactly are social movements, however, and what does it take to start one? How can innovative local ideas be...

How can it be that more governments are wealthier than ever, and yet fewer citizens enjoy the benefits that such wealth can bring? “Citizens’ wealth” – creating an additional source of revenue by turning states into wealth-owners - is a long-established idea. And yet we are still to see this powerful tool used to its full potential effect, and in the service of ensuring the interests of its rightf...

The world is facing urgent challenges – and design can help us solve them. Carrie Bishop is a director at FutureGov, the digital and design company for public services, where she works on projects focused on using social technologies for better collaboration, open innovation and organisational change. To celebrate the launch of the 2016/17 Student Design Award briefs, Carrie shares her thoughts on...

Why do some policies succeed in bringing about widespread social change, but others founder? In his annual RSA Chief Executive’s Lecture, Matthew Taylor examines the relationship between policy-making and social change. What distinguishes successful policy changes - for example, the smoking ban - from other ideas that seemed to have everything in their favour at the outset, and yet ultimately fail...

What is the next stage of human evolution? As the self-made gods of planet earth, which projects should we undertake, and how will we protect this fragile planet and humankind itself from our own destructive powers? We were delighted to welcome Yuval Noah Harari - bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – for his second much-anticipated RSA appearance. Where Sapiens was a wide-...

Former technology editor at Newsweek and co-producer and writer of HBO’s Silicon Valley, Dan Lyons spent many years reporting on the tech explosion. But when he joined one of the buzzy Boston start-ups that typify the industry, he ended up with a fascinating inside perspective. Lyons is one of the lone dissenting voices amongst the tech hype, and visits the RSA to reveal the dysfunctional culture...

As part of a series of Radio 4 programmes reflecting and examining the political and cultural landscape in Britain after the Brexit vote, Front Row will pick up from Today with a live broadcast in front of an audience at the RSA. Hosted by John Wilson, the discussion will feature leading creative figures, including actor and director Samuel West, novelists Val McDermid and Dreda Say Mitchell, TV p...