How Change Happens

How can we effect real change in the world? Is there a tried and tested method we can rely on that harnesses the best of both academia and practical learnings from the field? 

The world is full of wannabe 'change agents'; a mix of campaigners, lobbyists, organisations and officials - all determined to transform the world. They want to improve public services, reform laws and regulations, guarantee human rights, get a fairer deal for those on the sharp end, achieve greater recognition for any number of issues, or simply be treated with respect. 

And yet very few universities have a 'Department of Change Studies', to which social activists can turn for advice and inspiration. Instead, scholarly discussions of change are fragmented with few conversations crossing disciplinary boundaries, rarely making it onto the radars of those actively seeking change. 

Duncan Green is one of the world's experts on change and international development, and he brings together the best research from a range of academic disciplines and the evolving practical understanding of activists to explore the topic of social and political change.

This event will explore how change happens and discuss the recently published RSA Global paper entitled, Innovation in Think tanks - Policy influence and change in Developing countries  which examines how think tanks support social change and how they make change happen given their local contexts and challenges.

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