Rsa Events

Expert facilitator Priya Parker shows how simple changes can transform the ways we spend our time together – at work, home, and in our communities. Catch up on the conversation between Priya Parker and Rowan Conway after Priya's gathering experience at the RSA. We spend our lives gathering – at home, at school, in the workplace, in our communities and beyond. And yet all too often these occasions are lacklustre and unproductive. We rely too much on convention and routine, failing to focus on the specific purpose for the gathering, and the distinctiveness of the people involved. This event was recorded live at Tuesday 11th June 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/06/how-we-meet-and-why-it-matters

How do you get your passion project off the ground without sacrificing your sanity? Start-up founder Bec Evans offers a complete guide to making ideas happen. Many of us want to do and be more. We want to have ideas, create something new, go beyond the confines of our day-job and start something of our own. But once you have that lightbulb moment, what does it actually take to get an idea into the world? How do you overcome lack of confidence, experience, time and money? This event was recorded live at Thursday 6th June 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/06/how-to-have-a-happy-hustle

Economist Matthias Doepke reveals the impact of economic forces and growing inequality on how parents are raising their children. In many societies, we are now witnessing a growing “parenting gap” in response to rising economic inequality, with rich families able to plough greater resources into their children’s social, cultural and educational development as the social mobility stakes grow higher. This event was recorded live at Thursday 30th May 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/05/how-to-close-the-parenting-gap

Renowned writer Amitav Ghosh explores the role of stories in understanding our place in the world and reframing how we approach the biggest challenge of our era. We were told we were nearing the end of history; that globalisation would lift millions out of poverty, and that the onward march of time would bring unprecedented peace and stability across the world. But globalisation is delivering on its promises only to a powerful minority, and the result is a global system that our planet can’t sustain. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Wednesday 29th May 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/05/fiction-and-the-fact-of-climate-change

What does it mean to be human in the digital age? Writer and broadcaster Paul Mason explores how to defend our rights and freedoms against the forces that threaten our humanity. As we move towards a future defined by artificial intelligence, we must make a choice: will we accept machine control of human beings, or resist it? The logic of machines and market forces threaten to reduce us to little more than consumers whose every action can be programmed, leading some to declare that ‘humanity is over’ – but there is another way. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 23rd May 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/05/how-to-future-proof-humanity

What’s gone wrong with our workplace culture? Dan Lyons explores how we can put people back at the centre of our working practices. Welcome to work in the modern economy, where the climate is cultish and management fads rule. Silicon Valley workplace culture has filtered through to other industries, dehumanising our working practices and putting tech in the driving seat. In a rapidly transforming world where entire industries are collapsing, companies scrabble to reprogramme their workforce to adapt and survive, conducting large-scale experiments in organisational behaviour; in short, we’re all their lab rats. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Tuesday 14th May 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/05/why-modern-work-makes-us-miserable

Sustainability expert Mike Berners-Lee looks at the big challenges facing Earth and offers guidance on what we can all do to help humanity thrive on our only planet. Should we frack? Should we fly? Do we all need to become vegetarian? What about population growth? Faced with so many pressing environmental questions and dilemmas, and a sense that time’s rapidly running out to make a difference, it’s no wonder that for many people this all adds up to a feeling of despair and paralysis. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 9th May 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/05/there-is-no-planet-b

In a new report presented to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, world authority on basic income Dr Guy Standing sets out how the idea could become a UK reality. An effective pilot has the ability to demonstrate the strengths or shortcomings of a basic income scheme. Pilots have been tried in many countries, most recently in Finland and the Netherlands. Now, Dr Standing argues, it is the UK’s turn. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Tuesday 7th May 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/05/basic-income-as-common-dividends

Renowned psychology professor Jennifer Eberhardt examines how racial bias affects every sector of society, and how we can work to overcome it. Drawing on scientific studies, investigative insights and personal experience, Jennifer Eberhardt explores the far-reaching and devastating consequences of racial bias. Such bias is not an innate and inevitable evil, she argues, but a universal human problem to be addressed. By acknowledging sometimes uncomfortable truths about how we perceive the world and each other, we can make real progress towards racial justice. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 25th April 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/04/how-bias-works

Award-winning journalist, author and hit podcaster Elizabeth Day shares the valuable life lessons to be learned from things going wrong. In her new book, Elizabeth shares honest, uplifting stories of her own experience of failure, as well as insights gleaned from her interviews with people from all walks of life who found that life’s twists, turns and tragedies shaped them far more profoundly than the times of plain sailing. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 11th April 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/04/how-to-fail

One of the world’s most influential public thinkers Cass Sunstein explores the different ways that social change can happen, from nudges to movements to cascades. Drawing from two new books On Freedom and How Change Happens, Sunstein explores the myriad ways that change can happen at both individual and social scale, ranging from gradual nudges, to growing movements to sudden cascades. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 4th April 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/04/how-change-happens

How can storytelling help us navigate the world around us? Writer Will Storr explores the science behind humanity’s most powerful tool. Stories shape as well as reflect the world we live in, moulding our cultural identities, framing our politics and beliefs, and giving meaning to our experiences. Storytelling runs throughout our individual and collective lives, from our newspapers and our law courts to our religions, our song lyrics, and our teenage diaries. It’s out of these stories that our complex human culture has developed, and by delving into the science of storytelling, we can better navigate the world around us and our experiences in it. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 28th March 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/03/how-stories-make-us-who-we-are

How does class background affect our prospects in the workplace and in life? Sociologist Sam Friedman shares his insights into the hidden barriers to equality in elite occupations. Social mobility is a goal often hailed by politicians and voters across the spectrum, but evidence shows that we’re falling short of the meritocratic ideal. The effects of social class are shown to follow us throughout our lives in intangible ways, dictating how we are perceived by others, opening or closing doors to elite jobs and education, and affecting our tendency to take risks. How can we ensure that privilege isn’t misread as merit, and reduce the impact of class on opportunity? This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 21st March 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/03/why-it-pays-to-be-privileged

Caroline Lucas MP is joined by Professor David Runciman to discuss the urgent need for reform of our political systems in order to confront the intractable challenge of climate change. Liberal democracy is coming apart, under threat from the rise of populism and increasingly unable to deliver the solutions to the multiple challenges facing society. We urgently need bold and radical ideas - not just for the policies we need to tackle the many crises we face - but for the processes necessary to unlock that change. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Monday 18th March 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/03/we-need-to-talk-about-climate

What’s missing from our public life? Renowned economist Raghuram Rajan explores the power of community in a world that’s left civil society behind. An assumption underlying the politics and economics of the moment goes like this: that what matters are governments and markets, and the interaction between them. What about the rest of society? The ‘third pillar’ – community – has been forgotten in a world increasingly shaped by globalisation and technological innovation. Focusing on the state and the market at the expense of social issues has proven not just short-sighted, but a dangerous factor in the rise of populism. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Wednesday 13th March 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/03/how-to-revive-community-in-a-polarised-world

What lessons can we learn from successful leaders about how to navigate the challenges we face today? A panel gathers to reflect on the leadership of the moment and the take-home lessons from the worlds of politics and business. We’re seeing the effects of a crisis of leadership across the board, amidst the recent US government shutdown, abuse of corporate power, and the splintering of mainstream political parties. What’s gone wrong? What does it really mean to be a good leader in politics or in business, and how are they different? How do we adopt leadership principles like initiative, authority, and fairness, and put them to use in our own lives? This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 7th March 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/03/the-leadership-we-need-now

The desire for fairness is a fundamental human attribute – but should it be a core business goal? With philosopher Baroness Onora O’Neill and Justin King, former CEO of Sainsbury’s. Whether the issue is pay, tax, or environmental harm, it’s clear that many people feel companies are not playing fair, highlighting an ongoing public dis-ease with business. This underlines the importance of fairness to individuals and in society - but also raises a question about whether fairness is a core business goal. This event was recorded live at The RSA on 5th March 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/02/how-not-to-run-an-unfair-business

Renowned psychotherapist and broadcaster Philippa Perry joins journalist and broadcaster Miranda Sawyer to discuss how to build emotionally intelligent relationships with children that benefit you, them, and the wider world. Through the combination of case studies, her own experiences as a parent, and therapeutic insight gained from a career spanning over 20 years, Perry tackles the wider issues of what it actually means to be a parent, rather than getting bogged down in the little details. She is not interested in developmental milestones, training your child to have enviable manners, or how to get the much idealised 'perfect' family. Instead, she shows how to create functional, emotionally intelligent relationships with your children so that they grow up feeling secure, knowing who they are and what they want – creating positive outcomes for them, you, and the wider world. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 28th February 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/eve

What is the negative news cycle doing to our politics and our mental health? An expert panel gathers to discuss how our media landscape can change for the better. Evidence shows that an overload of negative news stories affects our mental health and drives disengagement, with huge numbers of people deliberately avoiding the news. In a political climate defined by the rise of populism and “fake news”, we need to be able to trust our media to give us the full picture and empower us to act on the biggest issues of our time. But isn’t it true that outrage sells? Does staying up to date with what’s happening in the world have to cost us our sanity, or is there another way? This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 21st February 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/02/how-the-news-can-change-our-world

Professor Tim Lang and Helen Browning OBE join an expert panel to discuss the collective action required to transition to a global food system that ensures human health and environmental sustainability. EAT gathered 37 of the planet’s foremost experts who, for the first time ever, propose scientific targets for what constitutes a healthy diet from a sustainable food system – as published in the EAT-Lancet ‘Food in the Anthropocene’ report. To unpack what the EAT-Lancet framework might look like in a UK context, the Food, Farming & Countryside Commission and City University’s Food Thinkers Seminars are convening a panel of experts from food policy, farming, public health and government backgrounds as well as presenting new UK-specific modelling data. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Wednesday 20th February 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/02/a-sustainable-future-for-food-health-and-planet