RSA Events

The social contract shapes everything: our political institutions, legal systems and material conditions, but also the organisation of family and community, our well-being, relationships and life prospects. And yet everywhere, the social contract is failing. At a time of global crisis, when we have an opportunity to think afresh about the future we want, visionary economist Minouche Shafik puts forward a new and hopeful framework for social, economic, and political recovery – one with profound implications for gender equality, education, healthcare provision and the future of work.Encouraging us to ask what we owe to each other – how we might better balance individual with collective responsibility, pool risks and share resources - Baroness Shafik identifies the key principles that every society must adopt if it is to meet the challenges of the coming century - and improve our life together. The RSA has been at the forefront of societal change for over 250 years –  our proven approach to change, and global network of 30,000 problem-solvers enables us to unite people and ideas to understand the challenges of our time and realise lasting change.Make change happen. Visit thersa.org.uk/approach to get involved.#RSAchangeThis conversation was broadcast online on the 11th March 2021.

Over recent months, we have seen individuals, communities and organisations embracing uncertainty as an opportunity for innovation, experimentation and renewal.Last year gave us all the signals we need to actively question whether the old normal is healthy and sustainable for the long term, as pandemic shock exposed deep fault-lines in our social and economic systems. The energy released in emergency response is creating the foundations for change at different levels of the system, from policymakers to funders, and from professionals to citizens. Across communities, within workplaces, and at the frontlines of public services, we witnessed the emergence of new relationships, new approaches and new mindsets characterised by a spirit of agile, adaptive and entrepreneurial problem-solving and innovation.   This is what the RSA describes as Living Change in action: an approach to change that recognises that living systems are dynamic, complex and interconnected; that identifying root causes and interdependencies is the first step in tackling the challenges that we face today. And finding where there might be energy for change and acting entrepreneurially is the second step – innovating, testing and iterating in a way that meaningfully changes our living system for the better. We also know that for any social change to be lasting, effective and just, it must engage and involve actors at all levels of the system.  Opening the RSA Living Change season, a panel of innovators and changemakers gather to share experiences, insights and lessons learned from the last year. Joining us to tell their stories of community collaboration, frontline innovation, and system re-design are: Ruth Ibegbuna founder of RECLAIM, The Roots Programme and Rekindle school; Cassie Robinson, Deputy Director of Funding Strategy at The National Lottery Community Fund; and Kaisa Heino, Deputy Mayor of Imatra, Finland. These are stories of crisis response, recovery and renewal, of thinking systemically and acting entrepreneurially. Stories of Living Change. The RSA has been at the forefront of societal change for over 250 years –  our proven approach to change, and global network of 30,000 problem-solvers enables us to unite people and ideas to understand the challenges of our time and realise lasting change.Make change happen. Visit thersa.org.uk/approach to get involved.#RSAchangeThis conversation was broadcast online on the 4th March 2021.

As interest in green business models increases all over the world, how can we make sure we’re eliminating destructive practices and not merely greenwashing them?  What can we do to achieve growth that is regenerative rather than wasteful, and which instils equity rather than exacerbating inequalities? Per Espen Stoknes, Director of the Center for Sustainability and Energy at the Norwegian Business School in Oslo, guides us through the mindset and mechanisms that we need to move towards a sustainable model of growth that will benefit not only buyers and sellers but society and planet. We already have the tools at our disposal, he argues, but success will depend on scaling innovation, and transforming both government practices and individual behaviours.#RSAGrowthThis conversation was broadcast online on the 25th February 2021. Join us at: www.thersa.org

As we strengthen our connection with one another, we are healthier, more resilient, more productive, more vibrantly creative and more fulfilled. - Dr Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon GeneralAs humans we’re hardwired for connection; the need for community and family have deep roots in our health and wellbeing. The impact of strong relationships and social attachments on the quality of our lives is becoming better understood, but long periods of isolation and social distancing to protect physical health through the Covid-19 pandemic have driven widespread loneliness and loss of a sense of community.Advances in technology enable us to be connected in more ways than ever before, but can also drive us further apart. What about the culture and infrastructure of our societies mean we’re becoming lonelier, and how can we rebuild companionship? How can we invest in our relationships and communities, and remove the stigma of loneliness? Dr Vivek Murthy, 19th and soon to be 21st Surgeon General of the United States is leading the way when it comes to addressing the loneliness epidemic that has been long overlooked in its links with physical illness. Dr Murthy argues that there is solidarity in loneliness as a universal human condition, and immense healing power in finding connection.#RSALonelinessThis conversation was broadcast online on the 18th February 2021. Join us at: www.thersa.org

How do we eat, where does it come from, and what’s gone wrong?Our food systems are fragmented and plagued by short-termism. Even as we have become wealthier and enjoyed greater choice in what we eat, we have failed to balance health and environmental issues with fair and secure access to good quality food.Brexit and the pandemic together have exposed the fragility of the systems upon which we rely, and who tends to suffer when those systems encounter problems. When it comes to food, it’s not just a question of supply chains and logistics; it’s one of justice. Ensuring everyone has choices around food of good quality and quantity is one of the most fundamental issues we face, and one that recent months have demonstrated we are yet to solve. Food policy expert Professor Tim Lang examines the vulnerabilities, strengths, and impacts of our food system, and explores how we can rework it to serve us all fairly, securely, and sustainably.#RSAFoodThis conversation was broadcast online on the 11th February 2021. Join us at: www.thersa.org

A year of crisis and confusion has led many of us to think hard about what we really want and need from our working lives.Pandemic shock has up-ended conventional ways of working and prompted profound re-examination of our work-life priorities, practices and pathways.Professor Herminia Ibarra is a leading expert on career development and transition.In an unmissable talk for anyone contemplating a career change or thinking about how to re-define their existing role, Professor Ibarra offers a set of practical strategies to increase our chances of successful reinvention and find greater fulfilment in our working lives.Making significant career moves and life changes most often means living through long and messy periods of uncertainty and doubt. But this is an important and necessary stage in the journey of change – to be embraced, rather than endured, Professor Ibarra argues. Through trial-and-error testing and exploration of our many possible working selves, we can clarify our career goals and aspirations, and discover new means to achieving them.In partnership with The Polymath Festival – the world’s first major festival of ideas dedicated to celebrating many-sided human potential and exploring interdisciplinary solutions to complex world problems.#RSAWorkThis conversation was broadcast online on the 4th February 2021. Join us at: www.thersa.org

Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, right? Wrong.This neoliberal ideal of “doing what you love” is actually a recipe for exploitation that is wreaking havoc on our lives and communities. Whether it’s working for exposure and experience, or enduring long hours and poor treatment in the name of ‘being part of the family,’ many of us have fallen into the trap of making sacrifices for the ‘privilege’ of fulfilling work.Understanding the trap, and why we so readily buy into it, will empower us to work less and demand what our work is actually worth. And once freed from those binds, we can finally figure out what actually gives us joy and satisfaction. Drawing on a series of interviews with workers in the cultural, healthcare, sports sectors, among others, author, journalist and podcaster Sarah Jaffe invites us to reimagine a future built on care rather than exploitation. At a time when so many of us have been forced to look again at the way we work, this could not be more important.#RSAWorkThis conversation was broadcast online on the 28th January 2021. Join us at: www.thersa.org

How can 2021 become a turning point for progress on climate change?With COP26 on the horizon and the incoming Biden administration poised to rejoin the Paris Agreement, climate action will be high on the agenda in 2021. But to make urgently necessary progress towards decarbonisation, the world must go further, embedding transformative economic changes across the board and building on them in the decades to come.This will mean connecting the climate crisis to economic strife and addressing both together, understanding the intersections of social, economic, and environmental policy. It will mean directing investment towards communities that need it most, ending extractive and exploitative practices, and tackling the root causes of our problems instead of just addressing their symptoms.The authors of A Planet to Win join us to discuss the Green New Deal as the most promising and ambitious plan we have at our disposal for saving the planet whilst building a more just society. They explore the principles, practical changes, and alliances we will need to embrace to set ourselves free from what currently binds us, and reflect on what the political opening created by crisis could mean. Business as usual can’t continue, they say, if we’re to have a future – but that what awaits us next could be much better.#RSAGreenNewDealThis conversation was broadcast online on the 21st January 2021. Join us at: www.thersa.org

Societies showed remarkable resilience and adaptability in 2020: in the face of public health crisis, political polarisation, and economic insecurity, we witnessed extraordinary examples of community solidarity and social innovation.And yet deep uncertainties and challenges lie in wait in the year ahead. To meet these challenges, we need to strengthen the ties that bind us. To reimagine and renew our social contract. To build stronger, more resilient communities, from the ground up.As we look for sources of inspiration and optimism, what lessons can be learnt from the way individuals and communities have navigated past national and global crises? What are the everyday values and practices that we need to re-discover, honour, create and share so that everyone, in every place, can thrive?Authors Hilary Cottam and Marc Stears join Anthony Painter in conversation to explore where we are as a nation in 2021, our hopes and resolutions for the future, and the new ways of thinking, working and organising that we need to embrace in order to face the challenges ahead, united.#RSAFuturesThis conversation was broadcast online on the 14th January 2021. Join us at: www.thersa.org

An unprecedented global pandemic. The worst global economic recession since the Great Depression. The tipping point for systemic racism. Growing polarisation and conflict. One of the biggest non-nuclear explosions of all time. An alarming increase in wildfires across five continents. 2020 has presented huge challenges for us to respond to.It is human nature to design for need, to design for better, to design for change. We design at our best in times of urgency and crisis, embracing uncertainty as space for creativity and imagination. The crises of 2020 have created the perfect conditions for timely, relevant, optimistic and proactive responses, amongst those of us who lean the most into that designer mindset – whether by nature or nurture, and whether we identify as designers or not. This event brings four 2020 crisis responders together to tell their stories of triumph and failure. From the thinkers creating Covid19 response models for health and care communities in the UK, to the designers innovating towards carbon neutral cities in Zagreb. From the innovators improving bushfire community resilience in Australia, to the tech entrepreneurs reducing polarisation and conflict through social media in the US and Kenya. Storytellers come from the design community and beyond, from grassroots to institutions. What they share in common is their design mindset, their resilience in the face of 2020 crises, and their openness to share their learning with humility. This event is brought to you in partnership with the Social Innovation Masters Programme (MDes) at Ravensbourne University LondonThis conversation was broadcast online on the 12th December 2020. Join us at: www.thersa.org