RSA Keynote

There has never been a better time to be a geek. What was once an insult used to marginalize the curious has become a badge of honour. People who care about science have stopped apologizing for their interests, and are gaining the political confidence to stand up for them instead.

Whether we want to improve education or cut crime, to enhance healthcare or generate clean energy, we need the experimental methods of science - the best tool humanity has yet developed for working out what works. Yet from the way we’re governed to the news we’re fed by the media, we’re let down by a lack of understanding and respect for its insights and evidence.

Mark Henderson, the newly appointed head of communications at Wellcome Trust, visits the RSA to explain why and how we need to entrench scientific thinking more deeply into public life. With over a decade of experience as the science correspondent for the Times, Henderson has seen it all, and plans to gather a new agenda-setting movement and turn it into a force our leaders cannot ignore.