Explore Challenges
- 7 March 2012: Global health in the 21st Century
- Adapting to an urban future
- Educating for tomorrow
- Digital technology in Africa
- Persistent poverty in Britain
- Can the UK ever be sustainable?
- Plastic pollution in the oceans
- Natural disasters: how can we improve?
- Not In My Back Yard
- Digital Divide in the UK?
- Importing goods, exporting drought?
- Britain’s ageing population
- Engineering our climate
- The future shape of Capitalism
- Migration: skills and the job market
- Razing the Rainforest
- London under water
- Concreting the countryside
- Future of low carbon energy.
- Africa in the 21st Century
About the Series
Thought-provoking talks
GEOGRAPHY IS AT THE HEART OF A NUMBER OF KEY CHALLENGES AFFECTING PLACES, SOCIETIES, ENVIRONMENTS AND LIVELIHOODS, BOTH LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY IN THE 21ST CENTURY.
As individuals, understanding the issues we face as society is a
pre-requisite to informed and appropriate decision-making. There is an increasing appetite from the wider public to know about such issues. This point is well made by the report published by Research Councils UK in March 2008 on Public Attitudes to Science. This was based on an independent survey of 2000 adults in the UK and indicates that there is an increasing demand for more public consultation on science and social science issues and a significant demand for more information from researchers.
The 21st Century Challenges series provides independent, unbiased, reliable, up to date information and guidance on issues relevant to people's lives. The Society has independent control over the choice of topics and speakers.
The aim of the 21st Century Challenges series is to improve public understanding of, and engagement with, some of the key issues likely to affect our lives and society in the coming years and thereby aid people in making their own informed decisions and judgements on these issues.
The series encourages and supports the wider public in understanding and engaging with key regional, national and international challenges of the 21st Century, and to enable informed decision-making in our individual roles as consumers, parents, voters, and employees and collectively as society.
Supporting the series
Shell supports the Society’s 21st Century Challenges series, a project that promotes public discussion and understanding of some of the key issues facing society in the UK, and the world, in the coming decades.
Global energy demand is rising, and so too are consumer expectations – more people want energy from cleaner sources. This calls for big ideas. At Shell we are unlocking new energy sources and squeezing more from what we have. With others we are finding ways to lower our emissions and helping customers to do the same. Developing an understanding of the key issues the world faces is a vital part of developing great ideas. In building a better energy future we all have a part to play.