What if we designed systems not for top-down control – but for human connection? At RSA House, trust expert and artist Rachel Botsman explores how design thinking and visual storytelling can rethink leadership, power, and trust systems. We often learn something new from studying something old. Anchored in her 2025 London Design Biennale installation Roots of Trust , the conversation returns to a long-forgotten artefact: the world’s first organisational chart, drawn in 1855. From this intricate, ...
Jun 19, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 561
Join the RSA, Insulate Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Institute London for a fireside chat with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk, in conversation with journalist and author Gillian Tett. Their discussion will explore the cycle of impunity and harsh realities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including cultural erasure, child abduction, and the use of torture. Matviichuk will discuss her work on documenting atrocities and the pursuit of global justice. Opening remark...
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 560
In a world on fire, where every system we rely on is buckling under the weight of its own contradictions, it’s time to admit that control is a dangerous illusion. But while politicians and corporations cling to algorithms for predictability, artists, writers, and musicians have always known the truth: chaos isn’t a threat – it’s a gift. At this RSA event, Margaret Heffernan explores how our obsession with stability and ‘solutions’ – now amplified by artificial intelligence – is not only futile b...
May 22, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 559
Join us to celebrate the opening of the UK Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai and discover the most exciting ideas and innovations shaping our future. At a time when the world risks becoming fragmented and divided, the World Expo represents a unique opportunity to show what humanity can achieve when we come together. The UK Pavilion at Expo 2025 will act as a vibrant hub of creativity and innovation, showcasing our nation’s unique energy, heritage, and make-up. A place where fresh ideas and div...
May 01, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 558
Tony Juniper and Mya-Rose Craig bring together two powerful perspectives on the interconnectedness of equity and the environment. Tony, an esteemed environmentalist and author, draws on decades of experience advocating for a balance between human needs and ecological preservation. His work demonstrates how fairness – whether in resource distribution, climate justice, or community empowerment – is essential for achieving lasting ecological progress. Mya-Rose Craig, also known as ‘Birdgirl’, ampli...
Apr 09, 2025•57 min•Ep. 557
This year’s keynote speaker is world-renowned political scientist Robert D. Putnam , author of the groundbreaking work Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community , which has shaped global conversations on the importance of communal ties and social capital. Robert Putnam will be speaking to us about the vital role of social connections in combating the deepening crises of social isolation, political polarization, and economic inequality, drawing on insights from his latest work...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 556
What bold actions are needed to realise true gender equity? This International Women’s Day, the RSA invites you to a powerful event focused on advancing women’s leadership and action for systemic change. Featuring an incredible panel of women including I. Stephanie Boyce, the trailblazing first Black and first person of colour President of the Law Society of England and Wales, journalist Sophia Smith Galer, and Women in Sport policy and public affairs manager Rachel Williams, we’ll explore the t...
Mar 11, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 555
From big tech scandals to soaring executive pay gaps, public trust in major corporations is at an all-time low. Despite life-changing innovations like vaccines and digital tools, we increasingly “love the product but hate the producer”. Renowned economist John Kay visits the RSA to deliver a bold critique of modern business. He’ll unpack how the relentless pursuit of shareholder value has gutted some of the 20th century’s most iconic companies and left the 21st-century corporation facing a recko...
Mar 06, 2025•58 min•Ep. 554
An evening with the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, and BBC journalist Clive Myrie. On the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs (2020–2024) and Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, reflects on the war’s far-reaching consequences with renowned BBC journalist Clive Myrie. The youngest foreign affairs minister in Ukraine’s history, Dmy...
Feb 24, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 553
The provision of care for dependents young and old is one of the great challenges of the modern age. The last 60 years have seen significant shifts in family and working lives with greater choice and autonomy bringing great gains for human freedom. Yet many private and public challenges and dilemmas remain. The social care system faces ever-rising demands and pressures. The vital skilled work of care – for the young, the elderly, the sick – remains undervalued and under-invested in. And women re...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 552
In his annual RSA Chief Executive's Lecture, Andy Haldane examines the profound socio-economic consequences of eroding social capital, a theme famously explored by Harvard political scientist Bob Putnam in Bowling Alone . While macroeconomic advancements helped address past crises like the Great Depression, today’s challenge lies in confronting the "Great Division”, the deepening fractures within and between societies. Despite unparalleled global connectivity, communities are fragmenting, leadin...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 551
Optimism is central to the human psyche: it seems to give us an advantage in both everyday life and in addressing great collective challenges. Sumit Paul-Choudhury , former editor-in-chief of New Scientist, visits the RSA to make a vital and transformative new argument: that optimism is not only the natural state of humanity, but an essential one. Sumit argues that without optimism we would never have survived the unpredictable - and often hostile - world we evolved into. Yet optimism is not jus...
Jan 20, 2025•55 min•Ep. 550
Current research reveals that workers over 50 are being rejected from key roles across the country, with discrimination and bias from employers and recruiters often endemic. Over 1 million people aged 50+ across the UK want to work but are unemployed. This RSA event is in collaboration with the OECD to launch their new report, Promoting Better Career Mobility for Longer Working Lives in the United Kingdom . The report highlights the key challenges faced by older workers in the UK labour market a...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 549
Join us in the Great Room at RSA House, where our expert panel will share insights and experiences from their work on impactful, community-led projects. Discover how these initiatives have empowered citizens to speak up for their communities and shape their shared future. The panel will explore key aspects of our Prosperous Places framework, including civic voice which provides strategies to empower residents to take an active role in developing their communities, and grassroots advocacy which e...
Dec 05, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 548
Tom Stuart-Smith’s work forges connections between people and place. Bringing an analytical design approach together with a detailed understanding of the nature of a place, Tom’s practice is underpinned by a strong sustainability ethic. Seeking to increase the ecological diversity and richness of any landscape in which he works, his aim is to create multi-layered new spaces of emotional depth and imaginative possibility. Sue Stuart-Smith is a prominent psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and author. ...
Nov 29, 2024•55 min•Ep. 547
Join our expert panel at RSA House and online to explore the extraordinary life of Dame Caroline Haslett and her inspirational legacy trailblazing a path for women in innovation and industry. A suffragette and women’s equality campaigner, Dame Caroline Haslett championed the role of women in mainstream employment and their release from domestic drudgery through education, training, and the application of new technologies. A woman of many pioneering firsts, Dame Caroline was the founder and first...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 546
Join us at the RSA and discover groundbreaking insights on how direct interactions with nature - seeing, smelling, and touching - can dramatically improve physical health. Learn how cedar boosts your immune system, pine scent calms your heart rate, and even a simple spider plant can enhance your gut health. Professor Kathy Willis, a leading expert in biodiversity and former Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew, will guide you through these discoveries. Kathy’s insights show us...
Oct 31, 2024•57 min•Ep. 545
The RSA and the Creative PEC and Arts Council England are delighted to launch our work into the concept of Creative Corridors: Connecting Clusters to Unleash Prosperity that sets out the emerging evidence base and suggests initial steps for local leaders. This is the live stream of the event launching a policy framework for action, setting out the underlying case for creative corridors, exploring the opportunities and barriers for growth and laying out the practical actions stemming from this to...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 544
The RSA and the Africa Centre are teaming up to spotlight innovators driving social change through their cultural contributions. At the RSA in Black History Month, we’ll explore how these emerging leaders are influencing global conversations and challenging traditional narratives, paving the way for a more inclusive and dynamic cultural landscape. We will discuss how to amplify the impact of African culture on the global stage and consider ways we can foster deeper connections between cultural i...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 543
Watch back a transformative talk with influential social philosopher Roman Krznaric . In a world fixated on the present, we often overlook the invaluable lessons of the past. Roman will explore how insights from the last thousand years can help tackle today's urgent global challenges - bridging the inequality gap, reviving democracy, and preventing ecological collapse. Discover how understanding the origins of capitalism can inform AI regulation, what 18th-century Japan can teach us about creati...
Oct 01, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 542
Join us for the launch of the Creative PEC’s new State of the Nations report , which for the first time analyses the state of Creative Further Education across all four UK nations. The new research delves into the dramatic and sustained decline in participation in creative further education across all four UK nations. Using the latest data, our industry guests will dissect the implications for the future of the creative industries at this critical juncture with the research team from Work Advanc...
Jul 19, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 541
What we can learn from Sir Henry Cole - his energy, ingenuity, convening power and commitment to the public good - to inspire and encourage us to be bigger and bolder in our social change ambitions today? Sir Henry Cole’s list of achievements is long and varied — the first director of the V&A, he helped establish the Great Exhibition of 1851, reformed the postal service, introduced Christmas cards and was hugely influential at the then Society of Arts during Prince Albert’s tenure as Preside...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 540
The worlds of music, culture and art have a massive role to play in making progress on sustainable development goals. But how do young people starting out in the industry navigate a path that connects their creative talent to their social change mission? This London Climate Action Week, the RSA are partnering with singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and UN SDG Youth Leader AY Young for a day of conversations focused on how artists can mobilise audiences and communities to champion sustainability, s...
Jul 11, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 539
The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) sit at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and planet, now and in the future. The goals are an urgent call for action by all countries in global, cross-sectoral partnership. They recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tac...
Jul 08, 2024•57 min•Ep. 538
This year marks a significant milestone, as the RSA celebrates 100 years since the inception of the Student Design Awards in 1924 and recognises the innovators from the final round of this iconic programme. On the night, we will also share more about how we have reimagined our awards for the next 100 years, to create greater collaboration around real-world missions, with a focus on learning, connection and funding opportunities for pupils, students, and entrepreneurs. Our 2024 keynote address wi...
Jul 03, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 537
In Brave New Words , Salman Khan, the visionary behind Khan Academy, explores how artificial intelligence and GPT technology will transform learning, and offers a roadmap for teachers, parents, and students to navigate this exciting - and sometimes intimidating - new world. A pioneering education technologist, Khan is uniquely well-placed to foresee and assess how these new tools will change the way we learn and teach. Rather than approaching the ChatGPT revolution with fear and anxiety, however...
Jun 27, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 536
Accelerating technology and global interconnections hold more promise – and more peril – than any other time in human history. How can we shape an economy to better address the complex problems facing the world? Many books have been written about Doyne Farmer and his work. Making Sense of Chaos is his personal manifesto for doing economics better. As a complex systems scientist and entrepreneur, Doyne has pioneered many of the fields that define the scientific agenda of our times: chaos, complex...
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 535
Introduced by the RSA’s President, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, an expert panel explores the theme of nature stewardship amidst a climate and biodiversity crisis. Imagine if, in 10 years’ time, everyone was a nature steward. What would that world look like? And how can young people, communities, movements, and governments contribute to making that vision a reality? With Kabir Kaul FRSA , 19-year-old conservationist, wildlife writer and passionate advocate for London’s biodiversity; Cai...
Jun 18, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 534
How can LGBTQ+ people thrive and succeed at work? There are currently only four LGBTQ+ CEOs across all Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies who are out at work, and just 0.8% of Fortune 500 board positions are filled by LGBTQ+ people. This deficit, occurring across sectors and around the world, reveals a diversity gap playing out in today’s workplace: LGBTQ+ people are less likely to reach the top jobs. But what is holding LGBTQ+ people back at work – and what can be done? Layla McCay is Director ...
Jun 07, 2024•53 min•Ep. 533
“In Ukraine, I learnt that the stories of those I was trying to draw, were in fact, far more significant than my attempts at figurative likeness on the page. The drawings became an introduction to something and someone more meaningful that we would have otherwise never known”. George Butler is an award-winning illustrator who has reinvented the role of the Artist Reporter, drawing conflict zones, climate issues, humanitarian crisis, and social issues for the news. His drawings are done in situ -...
Jun 05, 2024•56 min•Ep. 532
