Immigration is the issue of our time: riddled with moral, environmental, philosophical and political questions with few clear-cut solutions. Political philosopher Avner de-Shalit guides us through some of these complexities, with a particular focus on cities. How do cities cope with large flows of migrants and refugees? Should they have a right to stop people from settling in the city?  Which model of integration works best and where can it be found?  Avner de-Shalit is here with much needed insights on how to integrate immigrants in cities.   

For a civilisation so fixated on achieving happiness, we seem remarkably incompetent at the task. The advantages of modern life seem incapable of lifting our collective mood. Wealth doesn’t necessarily lead to happiness. Romance, family life, and work often bring as much stress as joy. We can’t even agree on what ‘happiness’ means. Are we engaged in a futile pursuit? Or are we just going about it the wrong way? Oliver has some of the most truthful and useful words about happiness in recent years.

The Olympics. X-Factor. The Nobel Prize. Everywhere you look: competition – for fame, money, attention, status. Being top seems to be everything – but what is it costing all of us? We depend on competition and expect it to identify the best, make complicated decisions easy and to motivate the lazy and inspire the dreamers. But Margaret Heffernan shows that competition regularly produces just what we don’t want: rising levels of fraud, cheating, stress, inequality and political stalemate.

Elizabeth is a fearlessly outspoken epidemiologist, well  known for her international work on HIV/AIDS. More recently she has  turned her attention to Indonesia, writing an unforgettable book exploring why Indonesia, vast, populous and getting richer, is practically invisible to the naked geopolitical eye. She also has some startling thoughts on corruption and why attempts to stop it so often end in failure. Find out what she’s thinking in this talk.

To Focus or not to Focus? It takes just 7 seconds for our brain to decide whether to pay attention, to listen, to take action…or not. This decision is often made unconsciously; either our brain connects with the topic or not. But when the connection happens, then we are in the ‘bubble’, in the ‘zone’ – we are FOCUSED. Antonio’s experience straddles business and academia and he knows a thing or two about being focused.

Making a difference: How to effect lasting social behaviour change.  An evening with Giles Gibbons, serial Social Entrepreneur and big-business advisor.

Susan George has a worldwide reputation as a trenchant critic of capitalist globalisation and as an activist for social justice. Come and hear her speak her mind about what’s gone wrong and how we can fix it. Described as ‘a searing analysis of a system in crisis’ by John Palmer, the Lugano Report II is Susan George’s follow up to her report of the same name published 16 years earlier that foresaw in some detail ‘the near collapse of the world banking system in 2007 and a looming global warming catastrophe as well as warning of the emergence of a super rich ruling class throughout much of the capitalist world’.

Martin Jacques, well known British author, broadcaster and academic talks about “How China will change nearly everything”. Martin Jacques presented his ideas to a select audience of policy makers, policy shapers and entrepreneurs, all with an interest in debating the extent to which China will change us and what the implications of this may be.

Can Big Data help us make better decisions? Each year computers are getting faster, but at the same time we as humans are getting better at using them. The top chess players in the world are not computers OR humans, but combinations of computers AND humans. Sean Gourley examines the world of augmented intelligence and argues that teaming up with machines is key to understanding the world around us better.

Basic income – individual, universal and unconditional. A controversial topic, discussed, implemented or advocated for across several countries. Philippe Van Parijs, a proponent and one of the world’s most outspoken advocates of the concept, explains how basic income is inseparably related to the improvement of the human condition. Is it a good idea? Will this help escape our times of crisis?