We regularly host public debates and workshops. On this page we inform about these, as well as events that are relevant to our work.
There are no upcoming events at the moment. You can browse recent events in our archive below.
Past events
Building a more effective and participatory government | Workshop with Matthew Quinn and Walter Pasquarelli, 22 Sept 2022
In Sept 2022, FDSD partnered with the Institute for Government and the Bennett Institute, University of Cambridge to hold a workshop at IfG on Building a more effective and participatory government—to improve policy-making and delivery.
Can democracy safeguard the future? | Book launch and panel discussion
On May 20th 2021 FDSD held a launch event for a new book by Prof Graham Smith, Chair of FDSD and Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster. In Can Democracy Safeguard the Future? Graham asks why democracies repeatedly fail to safeguard the future.
Nature of Prosperity Dialogue: Saving the Good Life | FDSD/CUSP online event, 17 November 2020
How can we nurture visions of the good life that preserve nature and protect the interests of future generations? Can new institutions help us to re-invigorate democracy? Can creativity inspire us to conserve what we love? How can we become the ‘good ancestors’ we would wish for our kids, in the world they will inherit? FDSD and the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity are delighted to invite you to the latest in the series of dialogues on the Nature of Prosperity, hosted by Dr Rowan Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury.
FDSD co-hosting parliamentary reception on Future Generations Bill, London 12 Feb 2020
On February 12th, FDSD will be co-hosting a reception in the House of Lords to celebrate the Today for Tomorrow campaign for a Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill for the UK. The Bill, modelled on the earlier Welsh legislation, was introduced as a private member’s bill by Lord Bird on 8 January. Its second reading is set for 13 March.
FDSD co-hosting parliamentary reception on Future Generations Bill
On February 12th, FDSD will be co-hosting a reception in the House of Lords to celebrate the Today for Tomorrow campaign for a Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill for the UK. The Bill, modelled on the earlier Welsh legislation, was introduced as a private member’s bill by Lord Bird on 8 January. Its second reading is set for 13 March.
Democracy and Gross National Happiness—the experience of Bhutan | Evening conversation w Jigme Thinley, London 11 June 2019
Evening event hosted with the World Leadership Alliance–Club de Madrid on 11 June 2019, 6–7.30pm at Bates Wells Braithwaite, London.
Intergenerational Fairness Criteria Round Tables – London 17 April 2019
Together with the FDSD, the School of International Futures (an organisation that helps policy-makers, business leaders and communities make strategic choices, manage risk and become future-ready) is hosting a Round Table on Intergenerational Fairness taking place on the afternoon of 17th April. We hope this will be the beginning of an innovative experiment towards a practical way of supporting intergenerationally fair policy-making.
The Future We Want: Shaping Environmental Politics | Networking event, London 26 Oct 2018
We are delighted to invite you to a joint networking event with the PSA Specialist Group Environmental Politics, GreenHouse Think Tank, and Policy Connect on 26 October 2018 in London. Designed as a space for policymakers, academics and environmental NGOs to discuss environmental policy-making in a shifting political landscape, the programme will feature…
Launch: Repairing Britain’s generational divide | The Final Report of the Intergenerational Commission, London
Tuesday 8 May, 9-10.30am, Landing Forty Two at the Leadenhall Building in the City of London From the Brexit vote and the shock election result last year to the housing crisis and Britain’s painful pay squeeze – the issue of intergenerational fairness has hit centre...
Democratic institutions and future generations: an international workshop | London, 10 May
Where there are tensions between short-term gains and long-term security, the interests of people alive today almost always triumph over those alive in the future. But they don’t have to. This workshop will explore the options for overcoming the short-termism of democratic institutions and steering them towards protecting future generations.
Will the Future Blame Us? Bringing Future Generations into Today’s Politics | London, 19 April 2018
The FDSD and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries are delighted to invite you to a joint evening event on 19 April 2018 in London. Bringing together experts from the policymaking community with academics and those from the actuarial profession and elsewhere in financial services, the interactive evening will examine the potential legislative levers for encouraging the explicit consideration of intergenerational issues in policymaking, including consideration of those not yet born.
World Development Within Planetary Boundaries | Johan Rockström Lecture, Guildford 2 Nov 2017
The advent of the Anthropocene, the scientific recognition of the remarkably stable state of the Earth system during the Holocene Inter-glacial, the rising evidence of global risks of crossing Earth tipping points and the signs of a gradual decline in Earth resilience, constitute overwhelming evidence for the need of a deep mind-shift. Societies, business, Nations and the world at large, need to reconnect to the biosphere, and transform to world development within the safe operating space of a stable and resilient planet.
Social Limits to growth—Implications for Sustainable Prosperity | London, House of Commons, 13 November 2017
This Autumn, CUSP and the APPG on Limits to Growth will be hosting a debate to mark the 40th Anniversary of Fred Hirsch’s ‘The Social Limits to Growth’.
Call for Papers: Climate Politics in Interesting Times | Submissions by 10 July 2017
Researchers at the PSA Specialist Group Environmental Politics inviting papers for a research workshop in autumn this year, exploring the prospects, barriers, and new opportunities of climate governance.
The Politics of Sustainable Prosperity | Research Workshop – Keele, 11 July 2017
In times of climate change, overconsumption, and ecological collapse, we must re-think the meaning of prosperity: What is needed are new visions of environmentally sustainable, yet still flourishing societies. This research workshop considers the political foundations of such societies, bringing together papers on both the barriers and new possibilities of sustainability politics in the current conjecture.
Nature’s Rights: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle | Brussels, 29 March
Ecosystems and species are alive. Yet current law treats them as objects, property and resources. This has wide-reaching consequences that are driving the ongoing destruction of the biosphere.
Watershed – Replenishing Water Values for a Thirsty World | 22 March in Vatican City, Rome
March 22nd 2017 is World Water Day. 400 international thought leaders will meet to launch WATERSHED – “a global conversation that will help shift how the world values and understands its single most precious resource: water”. The event which includes...
A Future Generations Commissioner for the UK | London, 11 April 2017
This event will explore the potential to establish a UK-wide Commissioner for Future Generations. We will hear from speakers who have intimate knowledge of the work of Commissioners and Ombudsman around the world.
