Academy of Ideas

#BattleFest2019: From zero hours to apprenticeships - young people at work

Listen to this debate from the Battle of Ideas festival 2019. Special thanks to the Federation of Awarding Bodies who partnered with the Academy of Ideas to produce this session.
The UK has relatively low rates of youth unemployment. But as critics point out, this statistic hides a multitude of issues. Starting salaries for graduates are amongst the lowest in the EU. Despite many initiatives to promote apprenticeships, many young people end up in low-paid, ‘gig economy’ or zero-hour jobs with few career prospects. For many years, the response has been the same: more ‘transferable’ or employment-related skills in education and encouraging young people to take up apprenticeships. But are employers and the government doing enough to train employees for the jobs of the future? Are apprenticeships the solution or an unimaginative return to old ideas?
Speakers include:
TOM BEWICKchief executive, Federation of Awarding Bodies; founder, Transatlantic Apprenticeship Exchange Forum
HARRIET BISHOPastrophysics student, University of Glasgow
DR RUTH MIESCHBUEHLERsenior lecturer in education studies, Institute of Education, University of Derby; author, The Minoritisation of Higher Education Students
ROB NITSCHchief operating officer, Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education; former professional engineer, British Army; fellow, CIPD and IMechE
CHAIR: CLAIRE FOXdirector, Academy of Ideas; Brexit Party MEP; author, I STILL Find That Offensive!

#BattleFest2019: What’s the point of going to university?

Listen to this debate from the Battle of Ideas festival 2019:
More people now attend university in the UK than ever, but there is much less clarity about what university is for. For many, it is simply a step on the career ladder between school and work. For others, higher learning is about pursuing knowledge for its own sake. Do universities even do a good job at preparing people for jobs, or should we make more use of on-the-job training for that purpose? Do vocational qualifications merit the same prestige as academic degrees? Does everyone deserve the opportunity to spend three years at university – or is it an evasion of the ‘real world’?
Speakers include:
KIRSTIE DONNELLY MBEgroup managing director, City & Guilds Group; commissioner, Labour Party Lifelong Learning Commission
DENNIS HAYESprofessor of education, University of Derby; founder and director, Academics For Academic Freedom (AFAF); co-author, The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education
JHANELLE WHITEstudent, King’s College London; founder and chair, Political Sweep
PROFESSOR ALISON WOLFauthor, The XX Factor: how the rise of working women has created a far less equal world; cross-bench peer
CHAIR: DAVID BOWDEN associate fellow, Academy of Ideas

#BattleFest2019: How can we create a construction revolution?

A recording of a debate at the Battle of Ideas festival 2019.
From the housing crisis to infrastructure projects, construction is more important than ever. Everyone seems to agree that innovation is crucial to the resurgence of the construction sector. And yet, for all the fine words and government initiatives, the construction industry continues to languish in the doldrums with very little innovation. While the UK has been slow to adopt the latest technologies, other countries have embraced new methods, such as modular construction. So why aren’t robots manufacturing housing in giant factories to be transported to site? Why is there so little investment in 3D printed construction? Where are the new materials and processes, and what needs to be done in order to create them?
DR THEO DOUNASsenior lecturer, Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
LISA FINLAYgroup leader and partner, Heatherwick Studio; founder, 7N architecture practice
SIMON RAWLINSONhead of strategic research and insight, Arcadis; member, Construction Leadership Council; member, UK Government BIMTask Group
NEIL THOMPSONdirector, digital construction, SNC Lavalin Atkins; associate professor, University College London
CHAIR: AUSTIN WILLIAMSsenior lecturer, Dept of Architecture, Kingston University, London; honorary research fellow, XJTLU, Suzhou, China; author, China’s Urban Revolution

#BattleFest2019: Artificial intelligence in schools - where’s the humanity?

Listen to this debate from the Battle of Ideas festival 2019.
Could artificial intelligence (AI) transform education? Schools are already tentatively exploring ‘adaptive learning’ applications, which identify gaps in a student’s knowledge and build personalised quizzes. Sir Anthony Seldon, author of The Fourth Education Revolution, argues that by taking care of the mechanical aspects of education, AI can free up teachers to focus on creativity and problem-solving. What might this mean in practice and what do teachers make of the idea that our schools are churning out ‘robot-like’ workers? What, if anything, is uniquely human about being a teacher and how important are the relationships between teacher, pupil and subject?
Speakers include:
CARLA AERTSdirector, Tmrw Institute; former director of futures, Institute of Education, UCL; global digital director, Cambridge University Press Education
DONALD CLARKEdTech entrepreneur; CEO, WildFire; board member, Cogbooks and LearningPool
JEN PERSSONdirector, defenddigitalme; campaigner for safe, fair and transparent use of children's data in the classroom
GARETH STURDYfunctional skills teacher, LHAA; education and science writer; former project coordinator, Physics Factory
CHAIR: HARLEY RICHARDSONorganising committee, AoI Education Forum

#BattleFest2019: Does the world need a government?

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas Festival 2019.
From climate change to tax evasion, humanity’s biggest challenges are increasingly global. Many of those frustrated by our lack of progress on these issues argue for some form of world government. If the United Nations, or some similar body, had real power over national governments, global agreements could be made and enforced. But others argue that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for seven billion people to hold a world government to account. Indeed, many find the idea of a world government sinister. Nevertheless, can we really solve our global problems without global political institutions?
Speakers include:
ANDREAS BUMMEL
executive director, Democracy without Borders; co-author, A World Parliament: governance and democracy in the 21ST century
IAN CRAWFORD
professor of planetary science and astrobiology, Birkbeck College, University of London
MARY KALDOR
emeritus professor of global governance, LSE; director, Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit, LSE; author, Global Security Cultures, Global Civil Society
DR TARA MCCORMACK
lecturer, international politics, University of Leicester
CHAIR: ROB LYONSscience and technology director, Academy of Ideas; convenor, AoI Economy Forum
Produced by Ian Crawford and Rob Lyons

#BattleFest2019: A waste of a good crisis? A decade after the crash, with Larry Elliott

Debate recorded at the Battle of Ideas festival on Saturday 2 November 2019.
Critics argue that relatively little has been done since the financial crisis to fix the underlying problems that precipitated it. Have we failed to take the old advice to ‘never waste a good crisis’? Extraordinary monetary measures are still mostly in place, but there are heated debates about whether the major developed economies are healthier or weaker than in 2008. Acclaimed Guardian economics editor Larry Elliott explores what can be done to pull the west out of its economic malaise. How can we challenge the ‘new normal’ of low growth, poor productivity and stagnating living standards?
PHIL MULLANeconomist and business manager; author, Creative Destruction: how to start an economic renaissance
IN CONVERSATION WITH:
LARRY ELLIOTTeconomics editor, Guardian; co-author, Europe Isn’t Working and The Gods That Failed: how the financial elite have gambled away our futures

#BattleFest2019: What is the future of the Union?

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas Festival 2019.
The result of the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 seemed to put paid for the foreseeable future to the most significant threat to the Union, but the result of the EU referendum in 2016 has put the cat amongst the pigeons once more. The future of Northern Ireland has also been a constant bone of contention since the Brexit vote. In September, a shock opinion poll suggested that a quarter of Welsh voters would vote for independence. Is the Union really in imminent danger? Is there a positive case for the UK today, whether economic, political or even emotional?
**SPEAKERS**MEV BROWNspokesperson, SDP Scotland; former spokesperson, Business for Britain in Scotland; campaigner, Better Together
DR RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDSjournalist, historian and broadcaster; award-winning author, The Seven and Patrick Pearse: the triumph of failure
LINDA MURDOCHcampaigner for rights and democracy in Scotland; director of careers, University of Glasgow
AKASH PAUNsenior fellow, Institute for Government; associate fellow, Centre on Constitutional Change, Edinburgh University
DR GLYNNE WILLIAMSassociate professor, School of Business, University of Leicester
CHAIR: JUSTINE BRIAN director, Civitas Schools
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#BattleFest2019: Caster Semenya running into controversy - genes, gender and sport

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas Festival 2019.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ruled women with naturally higher levels of testosterone cannot compete in women’s sport events unless they reduce their testosterone with medication. CAS was hearing an appeal by a South African runner, Caster Semenya, against a ruling by the governing body of athletics, the IAAF, that she cannot compete in certain events having been born with a condition leading to unusually high testosterone levels. What does this mean for elite sport? And can we separate sports from other areas of society in which discrimination against people with different sexual developments is taboo?
DR CARLTON BRICK lecturer in sociology, School of Media, Culture and Society, University of the West of Scotland
DR SILVIA CAMPORESIdirector of bioethics and society postgraduate programme, King’s College London; co-author, Bioethics, Genetics and Sport
GEORGINA NEWCOMBE student, Durham University; athlete and footballer; Living Freedom alumnus
DR JOEL NATHAN ROSEN associate professor of sociology and anthropology, Moravian College; author, The Erosion of the American Sporting Ethos
DR EMILY RYALL reader in applied philosophy, University of Gloucestershire; author, Philosophy of Sport: key questions
CHAIR: GEOFF KIDDER
director, membership and events, Academy of Ideas; convenor, AoI Book Club
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