RSA Events

Self-employment is once again on the rise. The number of people working for themselves has grown by 40 percent since 2000, and is set to reach a record 5 million by the end of the decade.A debate rages as to whether this is a trend to be lauded or lamented. While some hold that the self-employed are just another legion in a growing army of precariat workers, others hail an entrepreneurial renaissance among spirited self-starters. Join us as we launch The Entrepreneurial Audit, a new RSA report that examines the past, present and future of self-employment policy in the UK.

People in the West tend to think of corruption as a problem unique to the lower-income countries. But are we fooling ourselves? Development economist and co-founder of Transparency International, Laurence Cockroft and anti-corruption expert Anne-Christine Wegener have analysed the driving forces behind such cases, particularly the role of political finance, lobbying, the banking system and organised crime. In the course of their investigation, Cockroft and Wegener have uncovered why anti-corruption legislation has not been more effective, and why there is an increasing discrepancy between regulation and commercial and cultural practice.

We are living in an age of anger: from American 'shooters' and ISIS to Trump, from a rise in vengeful nationalism across the world to racism and misogyny on social media. Renowned author and essayist Pankaj Mishra visits the RSA to discuss how and why we got to this point.

We are all aware that we are living longer – and for some of us, that’s a scary prospect, especially when we consider that it has been estimated that by 2030 there will be 2 million people aged over 65 without adult children to look after them. And 230,000 of those will be in need of more than 20 hours' care a week and yet will have no informal support. But, what if we lived longer AND with better health? Our expert panel explore what people might do differently in the future to become a healthy, active and engaged member of the “150 Club”. In partnership with Philips UKI

We are bombarded with more information each day than our brains can process. It’s raining bad data, half-truths, and even outright lies in amongst the facts. But how can we know if we are being sold mistruths? Neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling author Daniel J. Levitin visits the RSA to help us sort the wheat from the digital chaff.

Could drones, and other robotics, provide an answer to some of the most persistent humanitarian and development challenges? Drones are just one example of a range of new frontier technologies that “tech for good” advocates claim as potentially paradigm-shifting for developing countries. However, even as sources of investment and knowledge-sharing increase, there remain obstacles and concerns – including issues around regulation, privacy and data protection, health and safety, and public understanding – and critics seek more evidence of cost-effectiveness and more positive engagement with the communities served. In this special event in partnership with Crown Agents Foundation, RSA Chief Executive Matthew Taylor discusses how we fulfil the humanitarian promise of technological advance with Tamara Giltsoff, Head of Innovation at the Department for International Development, whose ambition it is to bring tech innovation into day-to-day leadership and delivery of UK aid; and former Africa Correspondent at the Economist, Jonathan Ledgard, whose vision is to transform drones into agents of hope, utilizing the lower skies of African cities under-served by infrastructure networks, to revolutionize cargo delivery for those who need it most. Marie Staunton, Chair of Crown Agents, SOAS and former Chief Executive of Plan International joins the debate to put the case for new partnerships to explore the potential impact of technology for public good.

Schools are generally recognised as playing a crucial role in developing citizens of the future, helping to equip young people with the ability to debate and deliberate, to question, critique and understand differences in their communities. But with an already crowded curriculum, do we have to accept that the responsibility for citizenship education can’t – and indeed, shouldn’t - lie solely with schools?

Alex Evans of NYU’s Center on International Cooperation argues that today we have a ‘myth gap’. He visited the RSA to contend that in this time of global crisis and transition – mass migration, inequality, resource scarcity and climate change – it is only by finding new myths that we will navigate our way to a better future. It is stories, rather than facts and pie-charts, that have the power to animate us and bring us together to change the world.

Conflict, refugee and migration crises, an extraordinary US election race - and result, and post-Brexit-vote tumult for the UK and the EU - 2016 has been a year of exceptional, world-changing events. Join us at the RSA as our group of expert reviewers – historian and author of The Silk Roads Peter Frankopan; academic and cultural critic Sarah Churchwell and political scientist Matthew Goodwin - reflect on what has been a turbulent year in national and international political, social and cultural events.

In a world increasingly dominated by winner-take-all markets, good fortune and what may seem as trivial initial advantages often translate into guaranteed success over time. Despite this, false beliefs about luck and personal success persist, and can often shape individual and political choices in harmful ways. At the RSA, influential economist and New York Times columnist Robert Frank argues that it is vital that we gain a more accurate understanding of the role of chance if we are to create better, fairer economies and societies, and shows how inequality driven by chance can be mitigated by adopting relatively simple policy solutions.