Education for Human Flourishing - A Conversation with Sir Anthony Seldon

Sir Anthony Seldon is a leading authority on contemporary British history and education and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham. He is author or editor of over 40 books on contemporary history, politics and education and is the author on, and honorary historical advisor to, Downing Street.

After gaining an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Worcester College, Oxford, and a PhD at the London School of Economics, Anthony qualified as a teacher at King's College, London, where he was awarded the top PGCE prize in his year.

From 1993 to 2015, Anthony held headships at St Dunstan's College in South London, Brighton College in E. Sussex and Wellington College in Berkshire. In 2015, he left Wellington College to become Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham, a position he held until last year.

Sir Anthony is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and King's College London. He was knighted in the Queen's 2014 Birthday Honours list for services to education and modern political history. He founded the Sunday Times (now Telegraph) Festival of Education and most recently the Festival of Higher Education, and is widely known for introducing and promoting happiness, well-being and mindfulness across education.

Sir Anthony founded, with Professor Lord Peter Hennessy, the Institute of Contemporary British History, and Action for Happiness with Professor Lord Richard Layard and Geoff Mulgan. He is governor of several bodies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, and is Chair of The Comment Awards.

Sir Anthony also co-founded The Institute for Ethical AI in Education with Rose Luckin and Priya Lakhani.

Some of Anthony's latest books include:

• The Fourth Education Revolution Reconsidered: Will artificial intelligence enrich or diminish humanity? with Oladimeji Abidoye and Timothy Metcalf (2020); 
• Beyond Happiness: How to find lasting meaning and joy in all that you have (2016); 
• May at 10 (2019) with Raymond Newell; 
• Cameron at 10: The Verdict (2016) with Peter Snowdon 
• ...and many others.