RSA Events

Covid-19 brought with it a mass global experiment in working from home. And with the results now in, 2020 looks set to be the year that changed office life forever.Pandemic lockdown forced companies worldwide into a crash course in remote working. For many, it was a bumpy ride at first. But six months in, the data shows a remarkably swift and widespread adaptation to new working practices, cultures and technologies. In a recent survey, over three quarters of UK CEOs said home working is here to stay, with greater flexibility, digital transformation and lower density office space, all set to become permanent features of the future of work. With work now increasingly what we do, rather than a place we go, leaders face new challenges to ensure remote work is good work for all. How do we maximise the gains while attending to growing concerns around employee health and wellbeing, inclusion and equity? Who wins and who loses from WFH? Bruce Daisley is one of the world's most influential voices on fixing work. He joins RSA US Director Alexa Clay for an essential briefing on the great remote working experiment: what we learned, and how to prepare wisely for what comes next.#RSAgoodworkThis conversation was broadcast online on the 22nd October 2020. Join us at: www.thersa.org

Humans are hard-wired for community, but our political and economic systems have encouraged and rewarded extreme individualism for far too long. How can we rethink how we do things to put collective purpose back at the centre? Modern economics has for many years been driven by a belief which is no longer tenable: that ‘greed is good’. This mode of thinking has contributed to environmental destruction and vast inequality, and caused us to lose sight of an important truth about ourselves and each other: that we are cooperative, communal beings. Economics professors Paul Collier and John Kay, joining us in conversation with Bloomberg’s Head of Economics Stephanie Flanders, tell us we have reached a point of ‘peak greed’, where our politics have become centred around the idea of the self. How can we maintain the conviction and self-belief we need to address our most urgent challenges, whilst healing divisions and acting as part of something bigger than ourselves? Putting mutuality and common purpose back at the heart of our societies, they tell us, will mean strengthening our ‘politics of place’, and returning power to communities.#RSAindividualismThis conversation was broadcast online on the 15th October 2020. Join us at: www.thersa.org

As the world faces the critical issues of Covid-19, climate emergency and political disquiet, what are the novel democratic approaches we can deploy to tackle these acute and existential challenges? How can a more ‘active democracy’ break political deadlock, build civic trust and drive transformative collaboration between government, civil society and communities? One month on from Climate Assembly UK’s reported recommendations and with the US election looming, RSA chief executive Matthew Taylor is joined in conversation with OECD policy analyst Claudia Chwalisz, chief executive of Reboot Panthea Lee and professor of politics Graham Smith to explore practical strategies for long-term change. This event marks the London launch of the OECD report on innovative citizen participation and new democratic institutions: Catching the Deliberative Wave. Read the report here. This podcast contains references to a presentation given here.#RSAdemocracy This conversation was broadcast online on the 8th October 2020. Join us at: www.thersa.org

How can the ones who have been winning at this broken game become the ones to change the rules for good?The excesses of capitalism left unchecked are catching up with us, in the form of huge inequality, environmental disaster, and institutional collapse. Can business, which has until now been part of the problem, become part of the solution?What we urgently need, argues economics professor Rebecca Henderson, are businesses with a purpose beyond profit, that can create sustainable shared value for people and the planet. Ethical and economic arguments, she tells us, align more often than we might think, so businesses acting as agents of the change we desperately need is not only plausible, but absolutely necessary. Henderson makes a compelling case for the power and duty of socially and environmentally responsible business to transform capitalism, and shares her vision for a system where good business means doing what is right.#RSAeconomyThis conversation was broadcast online on the 1st October 2020. Join us at: www.thersa.org

Are we still a liberal nation? Are we even pretending or aspiring to be one?Several extraordinary years in politics and public life have shaken Britain’s image of itself as a model of liberal democracy. The status of political parties, the media, and public officials have morphed and shifted as increasingly desperate attempts have been made to contain the impulses of reactionary nationalism within mainstream political institutions. Widening inequality and the expanding role of technology have changed the way we relate to one another, eroding the sense of consensus required for liberal politics to thrive. Momentous public votes and major events have been surrounded by lying and propaganda, once met with shock, but now wearily familiar.How was the ground laid for this liberal collapse? Professor of Political Economy William Davies reflects on this extraordinary moment as a product of a larger and longer historical context, examining the underlying preconditions for the turmoil through which we’re living, and where we might go from here. How has the UK’s response to the coronavirus pandemic shone a light on the state of its politics? And with injustice more clearly exposed and widely acknowledged than ever, could this moment pave the way for something better?#RSAliberalismThis conversation was broadcast online on the 24th September 2020. Join us at: www.thersa.org

Statistics are vital in helping us tell stories and make sense of the world - and yet we doubt them more than ever.But numbers - in the right hands - have the power to change the world for the better. Good statistics are not smoke and mirrors; in fact, they help us see more clearly – if we keep our wits about us.Economist Tim Harford is an unrivalled guide to the world of numbers. Amidst a sea of disinformation and obfuscation, he shows how to seek out data with the power to inform and illuminate.In an unmissable RSA conversation with data bias campaigner Caroline Criado Perez, we’ll learn how to look closer at how statistics are sourced and presented, and how to evaluate the claims that surround us with greater confidence, curiosity - and a healthy dose of scepticism.#RSAnumbersThis conversation was broadcast online on the 17th September 2020. Join us at: www.thersa.org 

In recent months, the Black Lives Matter movement has heightened public consciousness of the extent to which racial injustice is embedded in all aspects of our society.As a new term begins, many teachers will be returning to the classroom with a renewed commitment to practising active anti-racism in their school community.But what does it take to make that commitment real? From behaviour to curriculum, what needs to be challenged, confronted, re-created? What tools and resources are available? And what is missing, overlooked, or denied?RSA education director Laura Partridge is joined by Zahra Bei and Rodeane Henry-Grant, Coalition of Anti-Racist Educators; Sarah Brownsword, lecturer in education, UEA; and Daniel Kebede, senior vice-president, NEU, to share perspectives on what we need now to turn the discourse of anti-racism into the practical, sustained, everyday actions that will be vital to securing a fair education for everyone.  #RSAeducation Further ReadingExplore RSA Fair Education projects:https://www.thersa.org/bridges-future/fair-educationThe NEU’s framework for developing an anti-racist approach:https://neu.org.uk/anti-racism-charterAddition links and reading suggestions:https://my.chartered.college/2020/06/anti-racist-education-selected-reading/ This conversation was broadcast online on the 10th September 2020. Join us at: www.thersa.org 

To read 'The Reflexive Age' in full, click here This conversation was broadcast online on the 30th July 2020. Discover more here. 

Impact investment pioneer Sir Ronald Cohen argues that social justice must dictate the economic response to the crisis now facing countries the world over. Capitalism is being challenged as never before - it can be radically reshaped. This conversation was broadcast online on the 23rd July 2020. Discover more at: www.thersa.org/events/bridges-to-the-future

Women’s economic subordination is a global problem that affects us all. Gender equality, often treated as an afterthought or a luxury only wealthy countries can afford, is essential for stabilising and strengthening our economies, bettering our societies, and liberating women across the world. Economist Linda Scott examines the growing body of evidence that we all do better when women do better. This conversation was broadcast online on the 14th July 2020. Discover more at: www.thersa.org/events/bridges-to-the-future