

RSA Events
RSA
World-changing ideas. For free. For everyone.
Featuring the world’s most exciting public thinkers, innovators and changemakers, RSA talks bring people and ideas together to shape a better future for all.
Featuring the world’s most exciting public thinkers, innovators and changemakers, RSA talks bring people and ideas together to shape a better future for all.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 9, 2021 • 49min
How to manage fear and find fulfilment
What is fear costing you? Your career; connection with others; believing in yourself?Fear is part of all of our lives but left unchecked it can drive many negative emotions and hold us back from finding fulfilment. Fear of failure, inadequacy and rejection can make us jealous, self-critical or turn us into perfectionists. Cultures of fear in the workplace, in family relationships and in friendships, can undermine intimacy, honesty and creativity. In a life ruled by fear we strive for success but are rarely happy. And the more we try to win, the more we risk losing ourselves.But what if we replace fear with something more hopeful? What if we could find courage in our true voice, and connect with the people around us on a deeper level?One of the world’s most influential and sought-after psychologists, Dr Pippa Grange encourages us to live with less fear, to find deeper fulfilment and live freer lives. Pippa has worked with some of the biggest names in sport and business and her strategies for fearing less have widely been credited with transforming the mind-set of the England football team at the 2018 World Cup.#RSAFearLess This conversation was broadcast online on the 8th July 2021 . Join us at: www.thersa.org

Jul 2, 2021 • 43min
Hopeful futures for a new generation
Where are the opportunities for young people navigating an era rife with challenges?Studies show that many of the social and economic consequences of the pandemic have hit younger people the hardest, in a time when many were already facing adversity. Declining living standards, heightened insecurity, and deepening social divisions are changing what work, home, education, and community look like for younger generations – but young people are resourceful and resilient, and should have a voice in deciding the future they will have to live with.Youth activist and social entrepreneur Jeremiah Emmanuel reflects on what it means to be a young person in the UK today, exploring themes of identity, justice, politics, and belonging. He examines the barriers facing young people that ultimately affect us all, and presents a hopeful account of how to move forward in a world that holds so many back.#RSAYouthThis conversation was broadcast online on the 1st July 2021 . Join us at: www.thersa.org

Jun 30, 2021 • 51min
Designing our futures
RSA Student Design Awards 2021 Keynote AddressJoin us for this special event celebrating the 2020/21 RSA Student Design Awards programme and the power of design to make a positive social impact.The 2021 SDA Keynote Address will be delivered by internationally renowned designer and social innovator, Jennie Winhall.System innovation is the challenge of an age in which society needs to make profound transitions to meet the challenges brought by climate change, ageing, growing inequality and the future of work.Jennie will talk about why we need radical creation to meet these challenges. Drawing on fifteen years of pioneering design for social good, she’ll show what designers can do to tackle complex social challenges and how design itself is changing to change systems.Jennie is the founder of ALT/Now, a group of international collaborators leading practical programmes for system innovation, leads systeminnovation.org at the Rockwool Foundation in Denmark and is a member of The Point People. As a co-founder of Participle, she designed the new public services featured in Radical Help.Join us to hear insights from Jennie’s design career at the forefront of movements such as Transformation Design - a journey that started in 1999, when, as a student at the Glasgow School of Art, she won an RSA Student Design Award.#RSADesignThis conversation was broadcast online on the 29th June 2021 . Join us at: www.thersa.org

Jun 25, 2021 • 46min
How can we tackle the crisis of LGBTQ+ homelessness?
Homophobia, biphobia and transphobia within families and within communities drives thousands of young people into homelessness. In the US, studies show that LGBTQ+ youths make up 40% of the nation’s total homeless youth population, despite LGBTQ+ youth comprising merely 5% of the overall youth population. In the UK, it is estimated that one in four trans people have experienced homelessness. This is an international phenomenon, and one which has been greatly exacerbated by the pandemic.While recent years have seen more awareness of the crisis, our collective response has fallen drastically short. There is an urgent need for further research and action to support LGBTQ+ homeless youth populations across the world and to respond to the problems the pandemic has heightened. So how can we do better at protecting young people driven from their homes because of their sexual orientations and gender identities?We can start by supporting the organizations that provide housing to LGBTQ+ youth. We need to be advocates, urging policy makers to fund housing initiatives, and prioritize homeless LGBTQ+ youths in their agendas. And we need to address the rejection and hostility that LGBTQ+ people face that can force them from their homes. We can and should do better to address this crisis.#RSAHomelessnessThis conversation was broadcast online on the 24th June 2021 . Join us at: www.thersa.org

Jun 18, 2021 • 53min
The role of schools in the wellbeing of communities
Rethinking Education III | Beyond the School Gates: the role of schools in the wellbeing of communities Throughout the pandemic, schools have played a central role in the wellbeing of local communities, especially in the most disadvantaged areas. School leaders have provided high quality and safe learning environments, reassurance for staff, parents and students and maintained critical relationships with other key providers of support for the health and well-being of children and families. The idea that schools are self-contained institutions, responsible only for academic development, is increasingly at odds with the realities of their role. What has the pandemic revealed about schools’ interconnectedness with their communities? How do we build more sustainable models that recognise schools as civic organisations, essential to wider community wellbeing? Join us for a new series of Rethinking Education events, bringing together respected practitioners, policymakers and thinkers, to discuss whether the challenges that emerged during the Covid-19 crisis might, in fact, be opportunities to build consensus across political divides and different traditions in teaching and learning. Each event in the series focuses on one of the key moments of crisis for education during the pandemic, through the lens of either Creativity, Capability or Community - the three pillars of the RSA’s new education programme examining how we can build a more equitable and inclusive education system.#RSAeducationThis conversation was broadcast online on the 16th June 2021 . Join us at: www.thersa.org

Jun 15, 2021 • 1h 5min
Innovations for Good Work
Innovations are emerging worldwide to address the challenges of a rapidly changing future of work. The pandemic is likely to accelerate the pace of technological change and automation globally. To secure a future where good work is available to all, we will need new approaches to skills, training and lifelong learning, to economic security and to worker voice and power.To launch the RSA Good Work Guild, a panel of good work innovators gather to share the solutions they have pioneered to support and empower workers in the transition to the jobs of the future; the systemic challenges they have faced in taking new ideas to scale; and the opportunities for innovators, investors and institutional actors to come together to build and sustain system-wide good work innovation, and a global movement for change.Read: Good work innovations in Europe: reimagining the social contractExplore: Innovations in Good Work DirectoryJoin: The Good Work GuildIn partnership with Autodesk FoundationThis conversation was broadcast online on the 14th June 2021 . Join us at: www.thersa.org

Jun 11, 2021 • 43min
People power: A message to the G7
As nation-states grapple with generation-defining issues from the Covid-19 pandemic to the climate crisis, what role does civil society play in addressing the issues of our time?For the first time since President Biden took office and the UK left the EU, the G7 countries will come together at the 2021 summit in England to discuss the pandemic, prosperity, climate change, and shared values. But without support, solidarity, and citizen engagement, these ambitions for a better world will come to nothing. Activism and political movement-building has always played a key role in democracies around the world – and in an age of crisis, we need people-powered change more than ever. How can grassroots mobilisation drive progress alongside more formal political processes?On the eve of the 2021 G7 summit, Anthony Painter and Leah Greenberg explore the role of progressive political movements as engines of change during the 2020s.This event is co-hosted by the RSA and Das Progressive Zentrum, as part of the 2021 Progressive Governance Digital Summit.#RSAcivilsocietyThis conversation was broadcast online on the 10th June 2021 . Join us at: www.thersa.org

Jun 10, 2021 • 57min
A new approach to curriculum and assessment?
In ordinary times, our exam system ensures that a third of young people finish school without the qualifications they need to progress. Now, after two years of cancelled exams, public dismay at algorithmic blindness to the true nature of student achievement, and after millions of the most disadvantaged children have missed out on key learning milestones, there has never been a more critical time to question our approach to assessment. The questions reach deeper than addressing the unfairness of the exam system, however. With Covid-19 sparking a youth unemployment crisis and social mobility grinding to a halt, do the events of 2020-21 force a fundamental rethink of the capabilities on which school curriculum and assessment should focus? Join us for a new series of Rethinking Education events, bringing together respected practitioners, policymakers and thinkers, to discuss whether the challenges that emerged during the Covid-19 crisis might, in fact, be opportunities to build consensus across political divides and different traditions in teaching and learning. Each event in the series focuses on one of the key moments of crisis for education during the pandemic, through the lens of either Creativity, Capability or Community - the three pillars of the RSA’s new education programme examining how we can build a more equitable and inclusive education system.#RSAeducation This conversation was broadcast online on the 9th June 2021 . Join us at: www.thersa.org

Jun 4, 2021 • 53min
How to renew our common life
The more we spend time with people unlike ourselves, doing things together, the more understanding, tolerant, and even friendly we become.And yet, increasingly, most of us spend less and less time with people who are different - as defined by age, race, or class, earning power or education.The pandemic may have forced us apart, but it also reminded us of what we share and value. We witnessed the power of community, connection and common cause. And we saw clearly the urgent work that needs to be done to tackle the barriers that stand in the way of full, equal-status participation and flourishing for everyone in society.Emerging from the crisis, we now have an unprecedented opportunity to bridge our divides and forge a new 'Common Life' - a set of shared practices and institutions - that can strengthen the glue that bonds our societies, in all their diversity.For the health of our democracy, our society, and our economy, the time to act is now.#RSAfractured This conversation was broadcast online on the 3rd June 2021 . Join us at: www.thersa.org

May 28, 2021 • 43min
How women can save the planet
What if women’s untapped power to make change was harnessed to fight the climate crisis?Climate change affects us all globally – but it does not affect us all equally. Vast social and economic inequities mean we don’t all contribute to the climate crisis to the same degree; nor are its effects evenly distributed. Racialised women are the most likely to suffer the consequences of climate change, which they have done the least to cause. Meanwhile, women are marginalised in the spaces where climate solutions are shaped.Gender inequality has helped cause climate catastrophe – and we need gender equality to help us solve it, argues writer and sociologist Anne Karpf. We must see women not simply as the victims nor the sole saviours of our global situation, but as holders of power to make systemic change. She speaks with inspiring women from across the world building movements for gender-inclusive climate action.#RSAclimateThis conversation was broadcast online on the 27th May 2021 . Join us at: www.thersa.org