RSA Events

Leading designers explore the role of cross-cultural exchange in making design a force for change both locally and globally. With Morag Myerscough RDI and Abdulrahman Gazzaz, Bricklab. This event was recorded live at Monday 8th July 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/07/mission-driven-design

What happens when reality surprises us? Writer Michael Blastland explores the curious anomalies that our usual modes of thinking struggle to explain. In a bid to understand the world, we develop theories – in science, medicine, psychology, economics – designed to discern patterns and order. But we encounter mysteries and surprises that these theories cannot explain; curious irregularities that mess up our attempts to comprehend the world. This is down to the ‘hidden half’ – the random, unknowable variables beyond the bounds of our usual reasoning. This event was recorded live at Thursday 4th July 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/07/how-the-world-conceals-its-secrets

Economist Jonathan Aldred reveals the extraordinary hold economics has on our morals and values. In his new book Licence to be Bad – How Economics Corrupted Us, Aldred tells the story of how a group of economic theorists changed our world, and how a handful of key ideas, from free-riding to Nudge, seeped into our decision-making, and, indeed, almost every aspect of our lives. This event was recorded live at Thursday 27th June 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/06/how-economics-corrupted-us

One of the world’s leading evolutionary thinkers David Sloan Wilson offers a bold new approach to solving the problems of our age. Darwin's theory of evolution provides a single theoretical framework for biology, and all life sciences, today. But among humanities scholars, it is widely assumed that our rich cultural and behavioural development operates outside the rules of evolutionary theory. In fact, Darwin's theory has been considered taboo in the study of the social sciences, in the light of the inhumane theories of social Darwinism that emerged at the end of the nineteenth century. But, now, David Sloan Wilson, one of the world’s foremost evolutionary thinkers, expands on what we traditionally consider biological. This event was recorded live at Thursday 20th June 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/06/completing-the-darwinian-revolution

Join us for the annual SDA ceremony and a keynote talk by designer Kate Dundas, planning leader for the City of Melbourne. The RSA Student Design Awards is a global competition focused around a set of project briefs that challenge participants to tackle the big issues of our time through design thinking. Winners receive practical and financial support from the RSA and our partners, as well as the opportunity to join a remarkably diverse community of alumni. This event was recorded live at Wednesday 19th June 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/06/designing-our-futures-the-2019-rsa-student-design-awards

Expert facilitator Priya Parker shows how simple changes can transform the ways we spend our time together – at work, home, and in our communities. Catch up on the conversation between Priya Parker and Rowan Conway after Priya's gathering experience at the RSA. We spend our lives gathering – at home, at school, in the workplace, in our communities and beyond. And yet all too often these occasions are lacklustre and unproductive. We rely too much on convention and routine, failing to focus on the specific purpose for the gathering, and the distinctiveness of the people involved. This event was recorded live at Tuesday 11th June 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/06/how-we-meet-and-why-it-matters

How do you get your passion project off the ground without sacrificing your sanity? Start-up founder Bec Evans offers a complete guide to making ideas happen. Many of us want to do and be more. We want to have ideas, create something new, go beyond the confines of our day-job and start something of our own. But once you have that lightbulb moment, what does it actually take to get an idea into the world? How do you overcome lack of confidence, experience, time and money? This event was recorded live at Thursday 6th June 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/06/how-to-have-a-happy-hustle

Economist Matthias Doepke reveals the impact of economic forces and growing inequality on how parents are raising their children. In many societies, we are now witnessing a growing “parenting gap” in response to rising economic inequality, with rich families able to plough greater resources into their children’s social, cultural and educational development as the social mobility stakes grow higher. This event was recorded live at Thursday 30th May 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/05/how-to-close-the-parenting-gap

Renowned writer Amitav Ghosh explores the role of stories in understanding our place in the world and reframing how we approach the biggest challenge of our era. We were told we were nearing the end of history; that globalisation would lift millions out of poverty, and that the onward march of time would bring unprecedented peace and stability across the world. But globalisation is delivering on its promises only to a powerful minority, and the result is a global system that our planet can’t sustain. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Wednesday 29th May 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/05/fiction-and-the-fact-of-climate-change

What does it mean to be human in the digital age? Writer and broadcaster Paul Mason explores how to defend our rights and freedoms against the forces that threaten our humanity. As we move towards a future defined by artificial intelligence, we must make a choice: will we accept machine control of human beings, or resist it? The logic of machines and market forces threaten to reduce us to little more than consumers whose every action can be programmed, leading some to declare that ‘humanity is over’ – but there is another way. This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 23rd May 2019. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2019/05/how-to-future-proof-humanity