Rsa Events

Richard Clarke shares his journey from RSA Student Design Award winner to global head of advanced innovation at Nike, and explores the power of design in problem solving and shaping the future.

With the historic referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU impending, we look back on how the campaign has played out, look ahead to the likely result and post-vote fallout. Our panel of expert commentators assess the decisive issues in the remaining days before the vote, and look ahead to possible post-referendum landscape scenarios. If ‘remain’ carries the day, is the question of the UK’s relationship with Europe truly settled for at least a generation? If the result is close, will the clamour for a re-run intensify? If Brexit prevails, the ‘what next’ questions are myriad – for our economy, society and politics.

As we draw nearer to 23rd June and the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU, we bring together Nick Clegg and Andrea Leadsom from either side of the debate, in a special conversation format. By allowing each advocate to make their case positively, and by seeking clarity on what really divides them – as well as where points of agreement may lie – we’ll aim to get closer to the heart of the European matter, and the historic decision the country now faces.

Why don’t money and friendship mix? Can money buy happiness? Why does money have such a hold on us? The surprising psychology of money reveals that our relationship with it is more complex than we might think. At the RSA, BBC Radio 4 broadcaster Claudia Hammond explores the latest research in psychology, neuroscience, biology and behavioral economics, and offers some simple yet effective advice that can help us improve our relationship with money.

It is time to reimagine how life is organised on Earth. We're accelerating into a future shaped less by countries and more by mega-cities; less by borders and more by connectivity. A world in which the most connected powers, and people, will win. Leading strategist Parag Khanna shows how the global connectivity revolution - in transport, infrastructure, communications - has upended the ‘geography is destiny’ mantra, and how connectivity, not sovereignty, has become the organising principle of 21st century society.

What does it mean to be a man today? Although there is still much work to do, there is a growing public awareness of the need to counter the negative stereotypes that have traditionally limited girls and women. But less is being done to question the accepted rules of masculinity. Join author Rebecca Asher and our panel at the RSA to explore where these problems come from, and what can be done to address them - for the benefit of us all.

Britain is currently enjoying something of a boom in enterprise and self-employment. Many of Europe’s ‘unicorns’ – new firms worth over $1 billion - call the UK home. But few of the greatest firms created in the last 30 years are British, as new American and Chinese start-ups dominate the global super-league of world-beaters. Is Britain losing its edge? And if so what needs to change?

The sharing economy has grown rapidly in the last 5 years, and is now popularized by big players such as Airbnb and Uber. But with growth, come growing pains. As the sector comes of age, what steps need to be taken now to unlock its full social potential and to ensure it remains an economic model that empowers not exploits? Rachel Botsman returns to the RSA to look back on the evolution of the sector; to consider where it's heading next – who will be the next breakout venture to be cited alongside Airbnb and Uber and what about the smaller ventures that are critical to the healthy diversity of the sector?

What informs our views on crime? Why do myths prevail across the political spectrum? How can we begin to understand crime for what it is – as a risk that can be managed and, more importantly, reduced? In this talk at the RSA, policy adviser Tom Gash analyses how our obsession with universal rules to explain crime's causes can lead us to irreversible mistaken individual cases.

In this exclusive ‘in conversation’ event at the RSA, Adair Turner and John Kay will respond to each other’s work and to the sometimes contrasting, sometimes complementary conclusions and policy recommendations they arrive at – and tackle the key questions: What does ‘good’, socially useful finance look like? Is banking too important to be left just to bankers? Do we need to revisit our understanding of money and debt? Or should we stop treating finance as special and demand that a much simpler industry conform to the same market disciplines as other industries? What are the regulatory and institutional reforms that we’d need to enact to get us there?

Can businesses have both endless growth and be fair and sustainable? Is it possible to conceive an economic model that’s not tainted by our current financial system? Economist Christian Felber introduces an international movement that’s aiming to radically reshape our future economy.

Writer and journalist Lynsey Hanley explores the idea of class in Britain today, examining how people are kept apart, and keep themselves apart, and the costs involved in the journey from ‘there’ to ‘here’.

Professor of Chinese history and philosophy Michael Puett draws from ancient teachings to help us challenge deeply-held assumptions about how to live our lives and follow a path of self-cultivation and engagement with the world. He invites us to re-examine the impact of Western philosophy on our lives and to "unlearn" many ideas that inform modern society.

Science journalist Helen Pearson reveals insights and from five birth cohort studies of over 70,000 people begun in 1940s Britain. These rich findings have been brought together for the first time and help form the basis of how we understand inequality and health today.

The Inclusive Growth Commission is an independent, impactful inquiry designed to understand and identify practical ways to make local economies across the UK more economically inclusive and prosperous. At this Commission Launch event, we heard from Lord O'Neill, Commercial Secretary to the Treasury; Stephanie Flanders, Commission Chair and Chief Market Strategist for the UK and Europe, JP Morgan Asset Management; Tony Travers, Professor of Government, London School of Economics and Cllr Claire Kober, Leader of Haringey Council, Chair of the LGA Resources Board, and Deputy Chair of London Councils.

How can engineering concepts help us make better decisions and create innovative solutions in a complex world? At the RSA, biomedical engineer and policy adviser Guru Madhavan reveals how the engineering toolkit can be useful in designing systems-based strategies and policies that could help in many areas of society, from easing traffic congestion to improving efficiency in health care.

Iris Bohnet, professor of public policy at Harvard University, demonstrates the tools we need to ‘move the needle’ on gender, from classrooms to boardrooms, and offers new research-based solutions for improving businesses, governments and people’s lives.

Is growing inequality a price worth paying for London’s continued economic success? As London’s economy continues to outpace the rest of the UK, so does the inequality gap. Is such inequality an inevitable by-product of the city’s growth, rewarding those who risk their capital to create employment, for example? Or, will it eventually derail the city’s upward progression, and push out those whom London relies on to keep it moving? Panel includes Danny Dorling, Professor of Geography, University of Oxford; Mark Littlewood, Director General, Institute of Economic Affairs; Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice, London Business School and Faiza Shaheen, director, Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class).

Who really drives transformation in society? And how do they do it? Skoll Foundation President and CEO Sally R. Osberg and strategy guru Roger L. Martin set forth a bold new framework for social entrepreneurship, demonstrating how and why meaningful change actually happens in the world, and providing concrete lessons and a practical model for businesses, policymakers, civil society organisations, and individuals who seek to transform our world for good.

Whilst we strive for stronger personal relationships, to conquer our bad habits or to get ahead in our careers, we often get caught in negative emotional and behavioural patterns that prevent us from moving forward. Meanwhile, the demands of our culture increasingly make us even less able to perform at our best. But by becoming more aware of our own emotional nature, learning how to face our feelings and unhooking from our negative thoughts, we can begin to evaluate them and to change our actions to match our values. Drawing on more than twenty years of research in the field of behavioural science, Harvard psychologist Susan David reveals how ‘emotional agility’ is the key to flourishing in work and life.