Current research reveals that workers over 50 are being rejected from key roles across the country, with discrimination and bias from employers and recruiters often endemic. Over 1 million people aged 50+ across the UK want to work but are unemployed. This RSA event is in collaboration with the OECD to launch their new report, Promoting Better Care…

Join us in the Great Room at RSA House, where our expert panel will share insights and experiences from their work on impactful, community-led projects. Discover how these initiatives have empowered citizens to speak up for their communities and shape their shared future. The panel will explore key aspects of our Prosperous Places framework, includ…

Tom Stuart-Smith’s work forges connections between people and place. Bringing an analytical design approach together with a detailed understanding of the nature of a place, Tom’s practice is underpinned by a strong sustainability ethic. Seeking to increase the ecological diversity and richness of any landscape in which he works, his aim is to creat…

Join our expert panel at RSA House and online to explore the extraordinary life of Dame Caroline Haslett and her inspirational legacy trailblazing a path for women in innovation and industry. A suffragette and women’s equality campaigner, Dame Caroline Haslett championed the role of women in mainstream employment and their release from domestic dru…

Join us at the RSA and discover groundbreaking insights on how direct interactions with nature - seeing, smelling, and touching - can dramatically improve physical health. Learn how cedar boosts your immune system, pine scent calms your heart rate, and even a simple spider plant can enhance your gut health. Professor Kathy Willis, a leading expert …

The RSA and the Creative PEC and Arts Council England are delighted to launch our work into the concept of Creative Corridors: Connecting Clusters to Unleash Prosperity that sets out the emerging evidence base and suggests initial steps for local leaders. This is the live stream of the event launching a policy framework for action, setting out the …

The RSA and the Africa Centre are teaming up to spotlight innovators driving social change through their cultural contributions. At the RSA in Black History Month, we’ll explore how these emerging leaders are influencing global conversations and challenging traditional narratives, paving the way for a more inclusive and dynamic cultural landscape. …

Watch back a transformative talk with influential social philosopher Roman Krznaric. In a world fixated on the present, we often overlook the invaluable lessons of the past. Roman will explore how insights from the last thousand years can help tackle today's urgent global challenges - bridging the inequality gap, reviving democracy, and preventing …

Join us for the launch of the Creative PEC’s new State of the Nations report, which for the first time analyses the state of Creative Further Education across all four UK nations. The new research delves into the dramatic and sustained decline in participation in creative further education across all four UK nations. Using the latest data, our indu…

What we can learn from Sir Henry Cole - his energy, ingenuity, convening power and commitment to the public good - to inspire and encourage us to be bigger and bolder in our social change ambitions today? Sir Henry Cole’s list of achievements is long and varied — the first director of the V&A, he helped establish the Great Exhibition of 1851, refor…

The worlds of music, culture and art have a massive role to play in making progress on sustainable development goals. But how do young people starting out in the industry navigate a path that connects their creative talent to their social change mission? This London Climate Action Week, the RSA are partnering with singer, songwriter, entrepreneur a…

The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) sit at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and planet, now and in the future. The goals are an urgent call for action by all countries in global, cross-sectoral partnership. They recognise that ending poverty and …

This year marks a significant milestone, as the RSA celebrates 100 years since the inception of the Student Design Awards in 1924 and recognises the innovators from the final round of this iconic programme. On the night, we will also share more about how we have reimagined our awards for the next 100 years, to create greater collaboration around re…

In Brave New Words, Salman Khan, the visionary behind Khan Academy, explores how artificial intelligence and GPT technology will transform learning, and offers a roadmap for teachers, parents, and students to navigate this exciting - and sometimes intimidating - new world. A pioneering education technologist, Khan is uniquely well-placed to foresee…

Accelerating technology and global interconnections hold more promise – and more peril – than any other time in human history. How can we shape an economy to better address the complex problems facing the world? Many books have been written about Doyne Farmer and his work. Making Sense of Chaos is his personal manifesto for doing economics better. …

Introduced by the RSA’s President, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, an expert panel explores the theme of nature stewardship amidst a climate and biodiversity crisis. Imagine if, in 10 years’ time, everyone was a nature steward. What would that world look like? And how can young people, communities, movements, and governments contribute to ma…

How can LGBTQ+ people thrive and succeed at work? There are currently only four LGBTQ+ CEOs across all Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies who are out at work, and just 0.8% of Fortune 500 board positions are filled by LGBTQ+ people. This deficit, occurring across sectors and around the world, reveals a diversity gap playing out in today’s workplace…

“In Ukraine, I learnt that the stories of those I was trying to draw, were in fact, far more significant than my attempts at figurative likeness on the page. The drawings became an introduction to something and someone more meaningful that we would have otherwise never known”. George Butler is an award-winning illustrator who has reinvented the rol…

An unmissable exploration of our rapidly changing relationship with fire and the action we need to take to reckon with an increasingly flammable world. For hundreds of millennia, fire has been a partner in our evolution, shaping culture and civilization. Yet in our age of intensifying climate change, we are seeing its destructive power unleashed in…

The pursuit of growth continues to define economic life around the world. Yet the prosperity gains of the last two centuries have come at an enormous price: deepening inequalities, destabilizing technologies, environmental destruction and climate change. Daniel Susskind is an award-winning economist, research professor in economics at King's Colleg…

Many of our key systems – economic, social, political, environmental – are in recession. This has left us in an era of anxiety about the future, one at risk of becoming self-reinforcing. What are the bold initiatives we need to spring the trap, inject optimism and dynamism into our decision-making and shift us to an age of aspiration? And what role…

A historic intergenerational shift in money, power and influence is coming our way – is this a reset moment for our economies, societies and future? Ken Costa is a leading figure in global investment banking, and the author of The 100 Trillion Dollar Wealth Transfer - an urgent exploration into how Gen Z and Millennials’ focus on ethics, purpose, s…

Neuroscientist and environmental journalist Clayton Aldern has travelled the world to meet scientists and doctors working at the intersections of environmental science, psychology and neuroscience to synthesize a new, interdisciplinary approach to a novel field — the neuroscience of climate change. His new book The Weight of Nature is an impassione…

The last century saw a revolution in life expectancy. And this revolution will require us to shift what we do at every age and will demand a transformation of every aspect of our society. Most of us are now expected to live much longer than previous generations. But instead of seeing this as a precious gift of extra life, we see it as a burden, wit…

What can other parts of the world learn from Ukraine, as it pioneers bringing acts of ecocide into the discussion of justice in the context of war? Ukraine is not only having to confront the destruction of human life and infrastructure caused by Russia’s invasion but also having to deal with damage to the environment. The question of the environmen…

Lucy Kerbel, founder, Tonic; Amanda Parker, cultural strategist and founder, Inc Arts UK; and Kate Varah, executive director, National Theatre, talk to Hayley Sims, head of policy and participation, RSA about COURAGE + THE ARTS. #FELLOWSFESTIVAL #FELLOWSFESTIVAL2024 Become an RSA Events sponsor: https://utm.guru/ueemb Donate to The RSA: https://utm…

Award-winning journalist and author of “Empireworld”, Sathnam Sanghera talks to RSA chief executive Andy Haldane about COURAGE + EMPIRE #FELLOWSFESTIVAL #FELLOWSFESTIVAL2024 Become an RSA Events sponsor: https://utm.guru/ueemb Donate to The RSA: https://utm.guru/udNNB Follow RSA Events on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thersaorg/ Follow the R…

Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh, environmental psychologist, University of Bath and Kabir Kaul FRSA, conservationist and wildlife writer talk to Martin Wright, author, editor and speaker about COURAGE + CLIMATE #FELLOWSFESTIVAL #FELLOWSFESTIVAL2024 Become an RSA Events sponsor: https://utm.guru/ueemb Donate to The RSA: https://utm.guru/udNNB Follow RS…

Tim Smit, founder, Eden Project and Emily Bolton, founder, Our Future talk to RSA chief executive Andy Haldane about COURAGE + COMMUNITY. #FELLOWSFESTIVAL #FELLOWSFESTIVAL2024 Become an RSA Events sponsor: https://utm.guru/ueemb Donate to The RSA: https://utm.guru/udNNB Follow RSA Events on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thersaorg/ Follow the…

Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director, Young Vic theatre, delivers the 2024 RSA Fellows Festival keynote address on COURAGE #FELLOWSFESTIVAL #FELLOWSFESTIVAL2024 Become an RSA Events sponsor: https://utm.guru/ueemb Donate to The RSA: https://utm.guru/udNNB Follow RSA Events on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thersaorg/ Follow the RSA on Twitter:…

Christiana Figueres receives the RSA Albert Medal, awarded annually to honour outstanding, regenerative and impactful innovation that is enabling people, places and the planet to flourish in harmony.   Christiana Figueres is an internationally recognised leader on global climate change, credited with forging a new brand of collaborative diplomacy t…

The Most Reverend Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury delivers the first in a series of keynote addresses by leading public figures responding to the RSA’s annual theme of COURAGE. In 2024, in a time of overlapping global crises, it’s clear that radical courage will be required of us as individuals and as a society - in our communities and insti…

The founder of the Bradford Literature Festival talks to the RSA’s CEO about how cultural activity can build stronger communities and drive economic growth. Syima discusses her background, the creation in 2014 of the Bradford Literature Festival as an eclectic and inclusive cultural event, and developments over the following nine years. She also ta…

Charlie Paton RDI, award-winning product developer, maker, designer and forester will give this year's RDI Address. Earth, Wind and Fire Just add water – a climate recipe As we lurch from one crisis to the next, our present and future is looking decidedly sub-optimal. We have the tools and technologies to fix things, but are we using them wisely? F…

RSA Student Design Awards – the world’s longest-running student design competition – is celebrating its 100th birthday! To mark the SDA centenary year, we are honoured and delighted to announce a very special event awarding the 2023 Bicentenary Medal to Satish Kumar and Schumacher College for their outstanding contributions to education that is ena…

Every health system in the world is experiencing extraordinary challenges in the decade ahead. The good news is that we’ve increased life expectancy; now we need to increase life quality, address health disparities, and reduce the burden on an over-stretched NHS workforce. And that will mean a paradigm shift in our approach to health and care towar…

We are part of a complex technological system. We depend on this system for the way we work, the way we live, the way we think. How do we choose and regulate the technology which will help us build better futures for people, place and planet? Drawing from his new book ‘The Machine Age: An Idea, a History, a Warning’, economic historian Robert Skide…

Despite many successive administrations’ attempts to modernise and improve the civil service, deep-rooted challenges remain, with instability and falling morale. How can we embed positive change in the Whitehall machine – change that lasts? In the wake of the fallout from Brexit, the global pandemic, and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, a well-fu…

We in the West appear to be at a year zero, with the seeming end of the relative peace and prosperity we took for granted. For years our politicians have said they were going for growth and would ensure that those with least would benefit disproportionately from the proceeds of that growth. They've failed. Growth has vanished. The poorest are despe…

Recent years in British politics have seen extraordinary turmoil, including the fastest turnover of ministers in history and more MPs suspended from the House than ever before. Faith in politics and politicians is at an all-time low, and the work of honest and accountable MPs tarnished. Drawing from his experience as MP for Rhondda and Chair of the…

Exploring insights from the Global Science Partnership – engaging citizens, climate scientists and policymakers to develop and implement ambitious climate action. Our Future Together is an innovative global science and public engagement partnership, which brings academic and research communities, policymakers, civil society, and the public’s perspe…

Amy Edmondson has been named the most influential management thinker in the world. In her latest work, she introduces the three archetypes of failure – simple, complex and intelligent – and explains how to harness the revolutionary potential of the good failures - and eliminate the bad. Drawing on illuminating case-studies, from the history of open…

In his speech at the RSA, the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord McFall of Alcluith, will discuss options for reform of Parliament’s Upper House, to enhance the effectiveness of its work of scrutiny and revision of legislation, as well as its capacity for addressing the long-term challenges facing the UK. Drawing on his experience of interrog…

Katherine Rundell is an award-winning author, and widely acknowledged as one of the finest children’s writers of her generation. Her new book Impossible Creatures is a clarion call to readers to fight to save precious creatures of all kinds before they vanish before our eyes. Sir Michael Morpurgo is a former Children’s Laureate, and author of count…

The UK Chancellor’s recent Mansion House speech promised to “unleash the superpower” of Defined Contributions pension funds in order to “seize the opportunities of the future”.  The proposed reforms and a new compact with leading pension providers aim to increase savers’ incomes and unlock billions of pounds of investment capital to fund high growt…

In a wide-ranging interview, the architect of the 2015 Paris Agreement speaks to the RSA’s CEO about how she first became involved in climate issues, how success was achieved in Paris, the importance of market forces and how outrage helps fuel her optimism for the future of our planet.Av Christiana Figueres, Andy Haldane

Fellows Talks Session 3 Speakers: Malini Mehra FRSA, chief executive, GLOBE International; chair of the London Sustainable Development Commission Just Transition work programme; ambassador, London Climate Action Week Chair: Martin Wright, RSA Fellow, award-winning writer, editor and speaker on environmental solutions and sustainability futures; dir…

Fellows Talks Session 2 Speakers: Stephen Oram | In Pursuit of Consensual Futures, Meena Wood | Education Transformed, Enabling All To Achieve and Rachel Drapper | Let’s talk dirty… dishes. Chores, the mental load and why sharing them matters. Chair: Martin Wright, RSA Fellow, award-winning writer, editor and speaker on environmental solutions and …

Fellows Talks Session 1 Chidi Oti Obihara | Cop 28 Climate Action Plan Speaker: Chidi Oti Obihara, RSA Fellow, environmentalist, climate finance expert and co-founder, COP 28 Climate Action Plan Chair: Martin Wright, RSA Fellow, award-winning writer, editor and speaker on environmental solutions and sustainability futures; director, Positive News B…

How to change the climate story Julia George talks to Rebecca Solnit, author, climate activist and co-editor, with Thelma Young Lutunatabua, of "Not Too Late: changing the climate story from despair to possibility". https://www.nottoolateclimate.com/ Become an RSA Events sponsor: https://utm.guru/ueemb Donate to The RSA: https://utm.guru/udNNB Foll…