The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce)

📣 Final week to snag your early bird tickets for #FellowsFestival2025 📣 This year's theme is ‘The Power of Connection’, with events taking place in several locations worldwide. - London - Bath - Birmingham - Brighton - Cardiff - Dublin - Edinburgh - Manchester - Toronto - Tokyo - Osaka Book by midnight on 30 March - open to all: https://thersa.co/4keRw5C #FF25

Did you know that economic connectedness is the second most important factor in predicting upward mobility, after median income? Earlier this week we announced a major new study, analysing six billion friendships in the UK using anonymised Facebook data, in partnership with BIT, Meta, Stripe Partners, and Neighbourly Lab - funded by the Nuffield Foundation. We caught up with co-founder and CEO of Thread, Inc., Sarah Hemminger who spoke to how friendships in the UK are less divided by class compared to the United States. Read the full report here: https://thersa.co/4bUtSrb

In Issue 1 2025 of RSA Journal, we explore one of the most pressing questions of our time: how do we rebuild trust in an era of uncertainty? With insights from thought leaders including Rachel Botsman, Sumit Paul-Choudhury, Sir John Curtice, Helen Lock, Raj Chetty (Opportunity Insights), Claire Ward and Caitlin Looby, PhD, this edition unpacks trust’s role in politics, science, economics and personal relationships – and what it takes to restore it in a fractured world. 🔗 Read more in #RSAJournal: https://thersa.co/4iCxm40

Last week, Rebecca Purton and Catherine Joyce attended Ufi VocTech Trust's Empowering Change: How Do We Build a Skills System For a Thriving Future? panel during #WeekOfVocTech. The event emphasised the importance of providing genuine lifelong learning opportunities that equip people for the rapidly evolving needs of the workforce. It also highlighted that tech is a tool to be used for empowerment through strengthening the relationship between the learner and the educator. This was a nice reminder of how the currency of qualifications is key for recognition and progression, which is why our Digital Badging work is so vital. Learn more here: https://thersa.co/4l02RXy

Scenes from our Patron's Lecture last night where world-renowned political scientist Robert D. Putnam delivered the keynote speech (virtually), highlighting the growing lack of social connection across the US. “We were a collection of ‘Is’ then we became a ‘we’, and now we are back to being unequal, politically divided, socially isolated and focused on ‘me’,” he said. Following the speech, Robert joined a panel including Sarah Hemminger, Co-Founder and CEO of Thread, Inc.; Marnie Freeman FRSA, Co-Founder and Director of Neighbourly Lab: and Sir Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs at Meta and former UK Deputy Prime Minister - chaired by our CEO Andy Haldane. Catch the full recap here: https://thersa.co/4iOImeP 📸 by Laura Aziz

Whether forged in neighbourhoods, clubs or universities, cross-class links can boost social mobility and break down divides. Read about our new study on social connections in The Guardian: https://thersa.co/4c2FPv4

I've been a fellow of the The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce) for over 10years and always feel like. I've come home when I attend it's lectures, read it's content and speak to it's other fellows. Last night Andy Haldane introduced RSA Patron Her Royal Highness Princes Anne who, in-turn introduced Robert D. Putnam - the American political scientist and author of Uprising and Bowling Alone. The session focused on why #SocialCapital is vital and the RSA used the session to launch their research Revealing Social Capital which I'm looking forward to diving into. My takeaways - a culture of morality is more important than trying to force societal inclusivity and economical equity through politics and / or business - tech are using some data for good - Nick Clegg outlined how Meta have been helping the RSA with their work by analysing 6bn Facebook friendships - brands investing on the ground in community infrastructure has delivered positive results including Cadbury and Jaguar Landrover - young people in low income or deprived areas benefit greatly when they are partnered with someone from a different socio-economic class (kudos to the work being done at Thread in Baltimore) - one primary driver of economic inequality is the privileged looking down at those less fortunate - we need to be less self-centred as a society The final, most impactful takeaway echo's my own passion: we need young people of diverse backgrounds to help shape an inclusive, fresh vision, a new world and future that drives innovation into a stale sectors and businesses who fear change. Read the report here: https://lnkd.in/eqDx5_2b Watch the session here: https://lnkd.in/eRFP8AeG #communitymatters #techforgood #socialimpact #socialvalue #leadthechange Phil Clarke Sophie Brooks

We’re proud to share ‘Revealing Social Capital’ the most detailed study of social connection in UK history. In partnership with BIT, The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce), Opportunity Insights, Meta, and Neighbourly Lab, with funding by Nuffield Foundation, our team analysed six billion Facebook friendships, from 20 million UK residents, to see how connected people are across income levels. We combined this with economic mobility data derived from the LEO dataset, to understand how social ties impact economic opportunity. Here are some of the things we find: UK friendships bridge economic divides, more so than in the US.    Friendships across economic lines are more common in the South of England, particularly in the areas around London. Economic connectedness is a uniquely strong predictor of economic mobility in the UK. Low-income children who grew up in the top 10% most economically connected local authorities in England earn 38% more per year on average as adults relative to low-income children in the bottom 10%. In part high income people have a higher share of high-income friends because they spend time in different places. However, two thirds of the gap in friendships across income classes is because of a “friending bias”. High income people are more likely to befriend other high income peers, even within a given setting. Neighbourhoods and secondary schools are where a high share of friendships are made, but “friending bias” tends to be higher in neighbourhoods. Hobby and recreation groups (such as sports, fitness, and arts groups) promote cross-class interaction among their members, but fewer friendships are formed in these settings. Social capital is associated with higher well-being. A 10% increase in the proportion of high income friends impacts self-reported happiness to the same degree as a £10,000 increase in household income. You can read a summary of the work, browse maps of social mobility and different types of connections, and download more detailed write-ups: on BIT's site: https://lnkd.in/eMQt7PuH and on RSA's site: https://lnkd.in/eGTRxtBZ If you'd like to really get to grips with this work: read our working paper : https://lnkd.in/eK6pyDXF and explore our social capital datasets: https://lnkd.in/egqPnhz6 We're delighted that we've been a part of this pioneering effort in collaboration with such an excellent set of researchers across organisations. We hope you find our findings interesting. And more than anything we hope this work leads to real impact in people's lives.   

Thank you to all our Strategic Partners for supporting our mission to harness the power of technology to improve skills for work, opening up access and achieving positive lasting outcomes for those furthest from opportunity. By working together, we are able to maximise our collective impact and accelerate the pace of change. Last week we hosted Week of VocTech. This is our annual event series provided in collaboration with several of our Strategic Partners including Association for Learning Technology, Learning and Work Institute, The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce), NCFE, and Resolution Foundation. During Week of VocTech, we also announced our new Strategic Partnerships with Association of Colleges and The King's Trust. Learn more about all our Strategic Partnerships here: https://lnkd.in/emc8qBNe

Tomorrow, I’ll be heading to the beautiful biomes of the Eden Project for my first-ever Anthropy UK National Gathering. I’m looking forward to joining an inspiring group of leaders, thinkers, and pioneers to explore how we can build a better future for Britain. Having different conversations with different people in a completely unique setting will be a great opportunity to gain fresh perspectives and spark new ideas. I’m especially excited to hear from our brilliant Chairman, Sir Loyd Grossman, Dr Joanna Choukeir, PhD, and Tom Stratton, who will be talking all things The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce), unpacking the important work we are doing to drive impact and innovation. If you’re attending and would like to connect, drop me a DM on the app - I’d love to catch up