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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#PodcastOfIdeas: first thoughts on General Election 2019

The results of yesterday's UK General Election throw up many different issues. Why did the Conservatives end up winning comfortably? Why did the Labour vote collapse, with seats that had voted Labour for decades switching to the Tories? Does the success of the SNP in Scotland mean there will be another independence referendum? What does it all mean for Brexit?
Discussing these issues and more are Alastair Donald, Claire Fox, Rob Lyons, Jacob Reynolds and Ella Whelan.

#BattleFest2019: Assisted dying - a doctor’s poisoned chalice?

Listen to the debate from the Battle of Ideas Festival 2019.
Thanks to Living and Dying Well for their partnership on this debate.
The question of whether assisted suicide (often known as assisted dying) is morally defensible, or should be legally permitted, is a familiar issue of medical ethics. Polls suggest that most people in Britain support a change in the law to allow it. By contrast, the British medical establishment has a longstanding record of opposition to legalisation – though there are suggestions that this may be changing. Should the law look leniently on relatives who help a patient to die? What if the patient would suffer more harm by staying alive? Indeed, should the idea of ‘harm’ be redefined and, if so, how? What would be the role of doctors, and ‘conscientious objection’, were the law to change?
Dr Jacky Davisconsultant radiologist, Whittington Hospital; member, BMA Council, chair, Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying; board member, Dignity in Dying
Dr Carol Davispalliative medicine consultant and clinical lead for end of life care, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust; board member, Living and Dying Well
John Harrisprofessor emeritus, University of Manchester; author, How to be Good; former member, United Kingdom Human Genetics Commission
Dr Kevin Yuillassociate professor of history, University of Sunderland; author, Assisted Suicide: the liberal, humanist case against legalization and The Second Amendment and Gun Control: freedom, fear, and the American constitution
Chair: Dr Piers Bennvisiting lecturer and adjunct professor; author, Freedom of Speech and the Flight from Reason
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