Contributor(s): Sebastian Mallaby | Investing always involves bets on an uncertain future, but venture capitalists face uncertainty of an extreme sort. How do they decide which startups have a chance of making it? How do they impact the economy and society? And why is venture capital spreading globally?

Contributor(s): Dr Effie Fokas, Dr Yannis Ktistakis | Yannis Ktistakis, Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Effie Fokas, researcher on ECtHR religion case law, will engage in a discussion about issues such as religious education in state schools, the legal status of religious minorities and exemption from sharia law (in the case of Muslims of Thrace), and of the critical role played by the ECtHR in such areas.

Contributor(s): Professor Joseph Fishkin, Professor Marc Fleurbaey, Dr Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington | The lingering pandemic crisis and the growing awareness that we are already facing the climate crisis require a rethinking of the objectives and instruments of political action. In this public event three speakers discussed the idea of equality that societies should pursue in the difficult times ahead. This event launches III's new research theme Opportunity Mobility and Intergenerational Transmission of Inequality.

Contributor(s): Steve Baker MP, Professor Paul Dolan, Nancy Hey, Dr Johanna Thoma | These questions are particularly relevant at a time when we start to fully understand the consequences of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic on a range of aspects of people’s lives: from mental health to domestic violence, from economic to educational outcomes. A focus on wellbeing can challenge the processes through which different public policy goals have been prioritised.

Contributor(s): Professor Jacob Hacker, Dr Ursula Hackett, Professor G John Ikenberry, Mark Landler, Professor Paula D. McClain | Has President Biden made good on his core campaign promises concerning the pandemic, the economy, and race, inequality, and climate change? Will the Democrats take a drubbing in November’s midterm elections?

Contributor(s): Professor Wojciech Sadurski | In 2019, Wojciech Sadurski published Poland's Constitutional Breakdown, in which he described the legal and political events that led to the country's recent turn towards illiberalism and democratic backsliding. Join us as he gives an update on the developments in Poland since: what has changed? What has remained the same? And what does Poland's constitutional future hold?

Contributor(s): Hilary Cooper, Professor Simon Szreter | Hilary Cooper and Simon Szreter discuss their book in which they reveal the deep roots of our vulnerability and set out a powerful manifesto for change post-Covid-19. They argue that our commitment to a flawed neoliberal model and the associated disinvestment in our social fabric left the UK dangerously exposed and unable to mount an effective response. This is not at all what made Britain great. The long history of the highly innovative universal welfare system established by Elizabeth I facilitated both the industrial revolution and, when revived after 1945, the postwar Golden Age of rising prosperity. Only by learning from that past can we create the fairer, nurturing and empowering society necessary to tackle the global challenges that lie ahead - climate change, biodiversity collapse and global inequality.

Contributor(s): Shani Orgad | We find out the real reasons some mums leave the workforce, deep dive into the media coverage of one of the world’s most talked-about mothers, Meghan Markle, and get Shani’s advice on how to do it all.

Contributor(s): Dr Anastasia Chamberlen, Peter Dawson, Professor Antony Duff | Societies take it for granted that we should punish those who commit crimes. Punishment for serious crime takes various forms in different areas of world and periods of history: caning, mutilation, death, exile, servitude, and imprisonment are all examples. But why do societies engage in this practice? What purpose does punishing serve? And does the punishment we find in modern societies do an effective job of meeting these aims?

A leading philosopher, a decorated criminologist, and a prominent prison reform campaigner and ex-governor engage in a dialogue to answer these questions.

Contributor(s): Dr Rachel Kleinfeld, Professor Lawrence Sherman, Ziyanda Stuurman | Western models of policing and criminal justice are facing crises of legitimacy at the same time as violent crime is the main source of violent death in the world. How then can police institutions respond to help provide security whilst remaining democratic and accountable? Our panellists focus on examining the causes of the main police-related problems, especially in the Global South, and how these problems best be addressed.