Aspen UK

The food system is responsible for one third of global emissions and it is estimated that livestock farming alone makes up 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions – that’s almost as much as the entire transport sector.  But, with technology continuing to advance, will we be able to eat meat sustainably in the future?

In this webinar, we explored the revolutionary food technology making its way on to the market with Thin Lei Win in conversation with Jim Mellon, Executive Director of Agronomics. This is the second discussion in our new ‘Critical Conversations’ series with Mars Wrigley UK bringing together pioneers from different technologies looking to build our net-zero and no-carbon future. 

This event was recorded as part of a live webinar on 10 July 2023.

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Both the government and the refugee advocacy sector are calling for more safe routes for people seeking asylum to enter the UK. But tens of thousands of refugees continue to arrive by unsafe means every year because they are unable to access safe passage. For this conversation in our series ‘Voices from a broken system: Rethinking refugee integration in the UK’, we will focus on how to ensure safe passage for refugees from different countries looking to find sanctuary in the UK. 

Our panel features Jacqueline Broadhead,  Director of the Global Exchange on Migration and Diversity at the University of Oxford; Lord David Blunkett, former Home Secretary; David Goodhart, Head of Policy Exchange’s Demography, Immigration, and Integration Unit and Enver Solomon, CEO of Refugee Council. The discussion was moderated by Martine Dennis, international news anchor. 

This episode was recorded as part of a live webinar on 7 June 2023. 

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Solar and wind energy used to be considered speculative, prototype ideas of no-carbon energy solutions. Yet the enormous growth seen in these two forms of renewable energy over the last decade has soared past pessimistic predictions. Off the back of this success, the question for other promising innovations is how can they do the same? How can we apply the lessons learned from the success of solar and wind energy to other innovations? And, what solutions should we be betting on?

This is the first discussion in our new ‘Critical Conversations’ series with Mars Wrigley UK bringing together pioneers from different technologies looking to build our net-zero and no-carbon future. The panel features Steven Lua, CEO at Unitrove; Natasha Patel, Director at Baringa Partners; Gaurav N. Sant, Director of the Institute for Carbon Management at UCLA and Beena Sharma, CEO of CCU International. The moderator is Kate Turner, Sustainability and Innovation Consultant. 

This event was recorded as part of a live webinar on 22 May 2023. 

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In recent years, there has been an increased visibility of social justice movements as a result of social media and global connectivity. But, as the work of social change movements builds momentum, what role can it play in encouraging intercultural diversity. How do social justice actors build more interculturally diverse communities? And how can intercultural exchange between activist groups impact their advocacy work?

For this conversation, we brought together social justice actors from various groups into conversation to discuss everything from collaboration between movements to how to prevent burnout whilst working towards social change. 

For the discussion, we were joined by Nathan Law, Hong Kong Activist; Jackie Driver, Strategic Lead for equality, diversity, and inclusion at Greater Manchester Integrated Care and Poku Osei, CEO at Babbasa.

This event was recorded as part of a live webinar on 15 May 2023.

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Tackling climate change requires urgent action and the race to reach net zero is on. One single flight from London to New York produces roughly 986 kilograms of carbon dioxide, that’s more than most people in Africa, Asia or South America produce in an entire year. But with everybody’s love for travel and the need for international mobility, how can this industry adapt to help save our planet?

This panel features Christopher de Bellaigue, Author of ‘Flying Green: On the Frontiers of Aviation’; Cait Hewitt, Policy Director at the Aviation Environment Federation; Sergey Kiselev, Chief Business Officer at ZeroAvia; Maja Rosén, Co-Founder of We Stay On The Ground; and Aaron Munetsi, Chief Executive Officer of Airlines Association of Southern Africa.

This event was recorded as part of a live webinar on 25 April 2023.

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In recent years, international cooperation has become more important than ever. From coordinating a global strategy to combat COVID-19, to uniting in response to the conflict in Ukraine and collaborating on the road to net zero, the crucial role of diplomacy is clear. But what’s it really like to be an international diplomat and what lessons can we learn from one of Europe’s most successful envoys?

In partnership with the Aspen Institute France, we hosted the Former First Vice President of the European Commission to discuss diplomacy in the 21st century. The Right Honourable Catherine Ashton has had an illustrious political career, from various ministerial roles in the UK to becoming the first woman British European Commissioner. In this conversation, Baroness Ashton joined Jean-Christophe Bas, Acting Executive Director of the Aspen Institute France, to provide insights from her diplomatic career following the release of her new book: And Then What? Inside Stories of 21st Century Diplomacy.

This event was recorded as part of a live broadcast on 17 April 2023.

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Art is often seen as a medium for self-expression, a place for artists and creatives to share their personal experiences, and so offers a unique opportunity for cultural exchange. Yet, as we live in increasingly multi-cultural societies, artistic influences and sources are becoming more various and plural – so the urgent question is how do we navigate celebrating other cultures without crossing the line of cultural appropriation? What is the definition of ‘high culture’ in the UK – and is it changing? And how do we ensure artistic work is celebrated and valued equally, regardless of its cultural origins?

This event brings together speakers from across the Arts to discuss how to make space for cultural exchange in artistic expression, along with the nuances, challenges and rewards this may bring. Our discussion will explore a variety of art forms, from visual pieces to music and literature.

This panel features Soheila Sokhanvari, Iranian-born artist; Dr Gus Casely Hayford OBE, inaugural Director of V&A East; Syima Aslam, Founder of the Bradford Literature Festival; Freddie Opoku Addaie, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Dance Umbrella Festival and Roger Wilson,  Director of Operations of Black Lives in Music (BLIM). This event was moderated by Waqas Ahmed, Executive Director of the Khalili Foundation and Curator of the World Festival of Cultural Diversity. 

This event was recorded as part of a live broadcast on 20 March 2023. 

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This is the first conversation in our series 'Voices from a broken system: Rethinking refugee integration in the UK' in partnership with the Woolf Institute and the independent Commission on the Integration of Refugees. The discussion will focus on the UK refugee experience. Bringing together refugees from different countries to speak about their experience in the UK, we will hear how their experiences differ and resemble each other, what has challenged them since arriving in the UK, and how they have succeeded in making a home.

The panel features Alina Prokopenko, a Ukrainian refugee living in the UK; Alphonsine Kabagabo, the Director of Women for Refugee Women; Iyad Yousef, a Syrian Data Analyst at the Centre for Metrics; and Mishka Pillay, campaigner and advocate with a focus on refugee rights and immigration detention in the UK. The conversation was moderated by Yasmeen Serhan, staff writer at TIME. 

This event was recorded as part of a live broadcast on 15 March 2023. 

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Despite more content being shared through media outlets than ever before, the issue of whose stories are being told or highlighted in the news remains persistent. There is an ongoing shift towards increased diversity both in the newsroom and in the way we tell news stories, in an attempt to better reflect the society the industry reports. Is there still a way for our media platforms to be used as tools to expose its users to a variety of cultural influences and experiences? What is the best way to tell stories of people from different backgrounds for the audiences at home?

This event brings together industry leaders, academics, and creatives to discuss how our media landscape can best share a more diverse range of stories, art forms, and creative endeavours, moving beyond a surface level ‘diversity’ to creating an environment that facilitates intercultural exchange.

The panel features Marcus Ryder MBE, Head of External Consultancies at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity; Meera Selva, Chief Executive of Internews Europe; Andrea Medrado, Lecturer at the School of Media and Communication, University of Westminster; and moderator Luba Kassova, journalist, co-Founder of AKAS, and award-winning author of Missing Perspectives of Women in News report series. 

This event was recorded as part of a live broadcast on 22 February 2023.

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Baroness Casey of Blackstock sat down with Ruth Warder, Co-CEO UK & EMEA Brand Chair at Edelman, to discuss the breakdown of trust in UK society. The conversation explored how this disintegration contributes to the polarisation we are currently witnessing and, most importantly, what measures should be taken to counteract its driving forces.

Baroness Casey is a leading expert when it comes to this topic; a long time independent advisor on social welfare, her previous roles include: Chair of the Ruff Institute of Global Homelessness, Crossbench Peer in the UK House of Lords, former head of the COVID-19 Rough Sleeping Task Force, and leader of the independent review of the Met Police.

This event is part of the Edelman-Aspen Trust Dialogue series put on in partnership with Edelman UK to understand the causes behind the polarisation that we are seeing in society today and, critically, how its driving forces can be countered.

Edelman has studied the dynamic shifts in trust for more than 20 years. Over the last decade their Trust Barometer study, which measures trust in institutions across 28 markets globally, has shown a deepening divide in trust levels between the elite minority in society and the disenchanted majority.

We will be joined by an expert guest for each event and will seek to understand this trust deficit by identifying key issues for public and private institutions, exploring why mistrust is so pervasive and try to identify how trust can be re-built.

This episode was recorded as a live webinar on 8 December 2022.

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