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Public Events

My Vision of the World
Tuesday 24th May 7.30-9pm, Bloomsbury Theatre, London WC1
On the evening of Tuesday 24th May, the day before the symposium started, we hosted an evening in the Bloomsbury Theatre on the subject 'My Vision of the World'.

Four speakers debated their 'Vision of the World' by raising these important questions: is climate change the biggest problem, or is it over consumption? Which is the real answer? Should we improve health inequalities, reduce forced migration, tackle the human rights deficit or improve access to family planning?

The speakers were:

• journalist and author Yasmin Alibhai-Brown speaking about the movements of people; migration, trafficking and the injustice of it all
• leading UCL academic Professor Sir Michael Marmot, who will talk about his concern over growing health inequalities
• Peoplequake author Fred Pearce will argue that western over consumption is the real threat of the 21st century
• Director-General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Dr Gill Greer, arguing the importance of family and reproductive health in addressing population challenges

The debate was chaired by Sarah Boseley, Health Editor of the Guardian and can be viewed here

21st Century challenges: Addressing population, development and climate change
Thursday 26th May 1-2pm, UCL Darwin Lecture Theatre, London WC1

Climate change and poverty alleviation are two major interlinked challenges for the 21st century. To address these challenges we need to understand the interaction between the 'Population', 'Development' and 'Climate Change' debates. UCL’s Prof. Mark Maslin examined key issues and events from these three separate perspectives and recent cross-cutting debates. Current debates seem to range from catastrophic visions of conflict and scarcity to optimistic views of a technological solution.

From a historical perspective, the 'crisis responses' to worst case scenarios about population growth exacerbating climate change seem familiar, repeating earlier debates about population growth damaging economic growth. Rather than repeat history, Prof. Maslin suggested that a more inclusive South-North engagement may enable the current debates to be re-framed around common themes including sustainable cities and intercultural interaction, which naturally bring together a wide range of academic disciplines to find joint solutions for human wellbeing and global health.

View the lecture here

Bright Club: Population
Monday 4th July 8pm, The Wilmington Arms, London EC1
Bright Club is the thinking person's variety night, blending comedy, music, art, new writing, science, performance, and anything else that can happen on a stage. This Bright Club looked at population and its effects on the world and starred:

Michael Legge (MC) - who seemingly couldn’t stand any people, anywhere
James Sherwood - played the music that makes the world go round
Seth Graham - an American who knew everything about Russia
Jane Holder - the lawyer who knew where carbon-conscious people keep their secrets
Anne Johnson - who took sexual behaviour very seriously indeed
Dave McCoy - the doctor with a worldwide view
Essi Viitanen - The Finn who laughed at her own country

The Next Chapter in Development - Goals for 2016 and Beyond
Thursday 21st July 7-9pm, Free Word Centre, London EC1

After 'health for all' and the MDGs, what’s the next global rallying call? Are "human rights", "sustainability", "universal access" and "security" the new slogans for health and development activists? Whose human rights? Sustainability of whose resources? Universal access to what types of health services? What kind of security - food, water, natural resources? How can we influence policy and advocacy to make sure grassroots voices are heard and plans are developed at a country level to respond to national and regional needs?  And where does population policy fit into these priorities?

This free event is framed as a debate between experts in different areas of public health policy and global development. Current speakers are Karen Newman from the Population and Sustainability Network, Mike Rowson from the UCL Institute for Global Health and Dr Meera Tiwari from the University of East London and co-author of After 2015: International Development at a Crossroads. Other invitees include Lucy Scott from the Overseas Development Institute, Andrew Simms from the New Economics Foundation and Patrick Watt from Save the Children

Register for your free ticket here