Kairos is a new London space exploring radical ideas for social and cultural change in response to the climate and nature crises.
At Kairos all discussion begins with the assumption that humanity is entering a period of unprecedented transformation, whether we’re shaping it or merely responding.
All our events are in-person at 84 Tottenham Court Road W1T 4TG.
Events coming up
Sunday Reading Room
Sunday December 1st
Open Projects Night
Tuesday December 3rd
About Kairos
kairos (kī¦räs, ancient greek): a period of transformation that is both a great challenge and a fleeting moment of opportunity.
Global systems, political institutions, the role of individuals in community, our relationship to the future and even the stories we tell about what it means to be human – everything is heading into flux.
Yet mainstream intellectual discourse is failing to embrace the new reality.
We need to take an imaginative leap, to step outside our long-held certainties and think again.
“It’s time to change the course of human history. We appear to be heading into what the ancient Greeks called Kairos, a window of opportunity when our capacity for change is put to the test.” – David Wengrow, co-Author “The Dawn of Everything”
“Targeting a climate resilient, sustainable world involves fundamental changes to how society functions, including changes to underlying values, worldviews, ideologies, social structures, political and economic systems, and power relationships.” – The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sixth Assessment Report
Some people who have already appeared at Kairos
Carmody Grey, theologian, Assistant Professor of Catholic Theology at Durham University; Graeme Hayes, sociologist, Reader in Political Sociology at Aston University; Nafeez Ahmed, journalist, Special Investigations and Global Trends, Reporter at Byline Times and Director of Global Research at RethinkX; Nick Anim, activist, Director of Transition Town Brixton; Caroline Hickman, climate psychologist and psychotherapist, Lecturer at the University of Bath and Board Member of the Climate Psychology Alliance; Carne Ross, former diplomat, Founder of Independent Diplomat and Author of “The Leaderless Revolution”; Jonathan Rowson, philosopher, Co-Founder and Director of Perspectiva; Josh Appignanesi, film-maker, Director of “My Extinction”; Rupert Read, writer and researcher, Reader in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia; Peter Sutoris, environmental anthropologist, Assistant Professor at the University of York and Author of “Educating for the Anthropocene”; Emmanuel Cappellin, filmmaker, Director of “Once You Know”; Asad Rehman, Director of War on Want; Steve Keen, economist, Author of “Debunking Economics”; Indra Adnan, psycho-social therapist, Founder and Co-Initiator of The Alternative UK; Sarah Stein Lubrano, academic and writer, Researcher at the University of Oxford; Noortje Marres, sociologist, Professor in Science, Technology and Society at the University of Warwick; Vanessa Chamberlin, artist and theologian; Ruth Padel, poet, Author of “Watershed”; Mark Vernon, psychotherapist and writer, Author of “Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps”; Anouchka Grose, writer and psychoanalyst, Author of “A Guide to Eco-anxiety”; Anthea Lawson, writer and campaigner, Author of “The Entangled Activist”; Paul Powlesland, barrister, Founder of Lawyers for Nature; Liz Jensen, novelist, founder-member of XR Writers Rebel; Raj Chada, protest lawyer, Solicitor at Hodge Jones and Allen; Roger Hallam, social movement theorist, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion; César Rodríguez-Garavito, lawyer and environmental justice scholar, Professor at New York University; Güney Yildiz, journalist, researcher and specialist on the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria; Rowan Tilly, activist and nonviolence advocate; Hilary Wainwright, sociologist and activist, Co-editor of Red Pepper magazine; John Fass, artist and designer, Senior Lecturer in User Experience Design at London College of Communication; Toby Litt, writer, Lecturer in Creative Writing at Southampton University and Author of “How to Tell a Story to Save the World”; Jessie Maryon Davies, musical facilitator, composer and storyteller; A.C. Grayling, philosopher, Master of the New College of the Humanities at Oxford and Author of “For the Good of the World’; Charlotte Du Cann, writer, Editor and Co-director of the Dark Mountain Project; Bill Moyer, musician and activist, Co-founder of the Backbone Campaign; Guy Standing, economist, Professorial Research Associate at SOAS and Author of “Plunder of the Commons”; Justine Huxley, co-founder of Kincentric Leadership; Andrew Boyd, activist, Author of “Beautiful Trouble”; Sandra Niessen, anthropologist, Member of Fashion Act Now; Sophie Scott-Brown, philosopher and intellectual historian, Author of “Colin Ward and the Art of Everyday Anarchy”; Josh Cohen, psychoanalyst, writer and academic, Author of “Not Working”; Jem Bendell, strategist and educator on social change, Author of “Deep Adaptation” and “Breaking Together”; Sicelo Mbatha, South African wilderness guide and story-teller, Author of “Black Lion”; Tim Waterman, professor of landscape at the Bartlett and author of “The Landscape of Utopia”; Ruth Kinna, professor of political theory at Loughborough University and author of “The Government of No One: The Theory and Practice of Anarchism”; Natasha Walter, writer, campaigner and author of “Before the Light Fades: A Memoir of Grief and Resistance”; Gail Bradbrook, climate activist, Co-founder of Extinction Rebellion; Chris Haughton, illustrator and children’s book writer; Nika Dubrovsky, artist, Founding Director of The David Graeber Institute; Michael Hrebeniak, Founder and Co-convenor of the New School of the Anthropocene; Gessie Houghton, gallerist, Director of the October Gallery and Secretary to the Institute of Ecotechnics; Rob Percival, writer and campaigner, Author of T”he Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy and the Future of Meat”; Phoebe Tickell, former scientist and social entrepreneur, Founding CEO of Moral Imaginations; Sandra Laville, journalist, Environment Correspondent at the Guardian; Cathy Eastburn, mother, musician and activist with Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil; Roger Harrabin, journalist, former Environment Specialist at the BBC; Chris Smaje, farmer and social scientist, Author of “A Small Farm Future”; Lynne Segal, feminist thinker and activist, Author of “Lean on Me: A Politics of Radical Care”; Chris Shaw, climate communications consultant, Author of “Liberalism and the Challenge of Climate Change”; Buzz Baum, molecular biologist, Group Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge; Simon Bramwell, strategic pragmatist and co-founder of the Rising Up Network and Extinction Rebellion; Frank Hewetson, long-standing Greenpeace activist; Margaret Klein Salamon, clinical psychologist and activist, Executive Director of Climate Emergency Fund and author of “Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth”; Kennedy Mbeva, researcher at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge,Author of forthcoming book, “Rebirth: Demographic Change and Societal Collapse”; Indy Johar, architect, Co-founder of Dark Matter Labs; Andrew Simms, political economist and campaigner, Co-founder of The New Weather Institute and coordinator of the Rapid Transition Alliance; Songqiao Yao, Chinese activist, founder of Wildbound; Faye Lu, Chinese activist, partner and chief impact officer of Wildbound; Matthew Green, journalist, Global Investigations Editor at DeSmog and author of substack “Resonant World”; Jolyon Maugham KC, barrister and campaigner, Founder of Good Law Project and Author of “Bringing Down Goliath: How Good Law Can Topple the Powerful”; Artemis Bear, educator, Founder of The Garden and Head of the Freedom to Learn programme; Melanie Challenger, non-fiction writer and author of “How To Be Animal“; SJ Beard, senior research associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge; Brett Christophers, geographer, Professor at Uppsala University, Sweden and Author of “The Price is Wrong”; Trudi Warner, climate activist; Mohamed Amer Meziane, philosopher, Assistant Professor at Brown University and Author of The States of the Earth: An Ecological and Racial History of Secularization; Ben Ware, philosopher and social theorist, Author of “On Extinction: Beginning Again at the End”; Stephen Markley, journalist and fiction writer, Author of “The Deluge” ; Sandra Newman, writer, Author of “The Men” and “The Heavens”; Joel Scott-Halkes, activist, Co-Founder of Wild Card; Vali Mahlouji, curator and art historian, Founder of not-for-profit platform Archeology of the Final Decade; Roman Krznaric, social philosopher, Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing and Author of History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity; Pippa Evans, improvisation artist; Chris Hedges, journalist, formerly Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for The New York Times and Author of Wages of Rebellion; Nihal El Aasar, writer and researcher; Ian Scoones, social scientist, Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and Author of Navigating Uncertainty: Radical Rethinking for a Turbulent World; Dougald Hine, social thinker and writer, Co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project, co-host of “The Great Humbling” podcast and author of “At Work in the Ruins”; Peter Sahlins, historian, Author of “Forest Rites”; Nadia Yahlom, artist and curator, Co-founder of Sarha Collective; Monique Roffey, writer, co-founder of Writers Rebel and Author of “Archipelago”; Alicia Escott, artist, Co-founder of The Bureau of Linguistical Reality; Heidi Quante, artist, Co-founder of The Bureau of Linguistical Reality; Elizabeth Oldfield, Author of “Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times” and Host of The Sacred podcast.
Some of the people we hope will appear
UK: David Wengrow, archaeologist, Professor of Comparative Archaeology at UCL; Jason Hickel, economic anthropologist, Professor at the Autonomous University in Barcelona, and Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE; Kate Raworth, economist, author of Doughnut Economics; George Monbiot, journalist, author of “Regenesis”; David Olusoga, historian, Professor of Public History, University of Manchester; Carolyn Steel, architect and writer, Author of “Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World”; Tim Benton, Director, Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House; Aled Jones, Director of the Global Sustainability Institute at Cambridge University; Clive Lewis, politician, Labour MP and Shadow Minister for Sustainable Economics; Owen Sheers, author, Professor of Creativity at Swansea University and co-founder Black Mountains College; Wolfgang Blau, former media executive, Co-Founder of Oxford Climate Journalism Network; Caroline Lucas, politician, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion; Farhana Yamin, international lawyer and activist, Associate Fellow at Chatham House; Tim Crosland, lawyer and legal campaigner, Director of Plan B; Jojo Mehta, legal campaigner, Director of Stop Ecocide International; Sally Weintrobe, psychoanalyst, Chair of the International Psychoanalytic Association’s Climate Committee and Author of “Psychology of Roots of the Climate Crisis”; Paul Gilroy, sociologist, Professor of the Humanities and Founding Director, Sarah Parker Remond Centre, UCL; David King, scientist, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government; Rob Hopkins, writer and activist, Founder of Transition Towns; James Thornton, lawyer, CEO of Client Earth; Sophie Howe, political advisor, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales; Vinay Gupta, technologist and entrepreneur, Founder of Mattereum; Adam Elliot-Cooper, social scientist, Researcher at Greenwich University; Paul Kingsnorth, writer, Co-Founder of Dark Mountain Project, Founder of the Wyrd School and Author of “Beast”; Alastair McIntosh, writer, activist, land reformer, Founder of GalGael; Charlie Gardener, scientist, Researcher at the University of Kent; Iain McGilchrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher and literary scholar, Author of “The Master and His Emissary”; Fehinti Balogun, writer and activist, creater of “Can I Live?”; Simon Schama, historian, Professor of History at Columbia University and writer/presenter of “The History of Now”; Paddy Loughman, strategist, Co-founder of Stories For Life; Ash Sarkar, journalist and activist, Senior Editor at Novara Media; Predrag Slijepčević, philosopher of biology, Senior Lecturer at Brunel University and Author of “Biocivilisations: A New Look at the Science of Life”.
INTERNATIONAL: Noam Chomsky, linguist, philosopher and social critic, USA; Margaret Atwood, writer, Author of “Oryx and Crake” and “Burning Questions”, Canada; Anasuya Sengupta, poet, Co-founder of Whose Knowledge?, India; Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University and author of “Merchants of Doubt”, USA; Audrey Tang, former First Minister of Digital Affairs of Taiwan and Author of “Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy”; Robin Wall Kimmerer, environmental biologist, Author of “Braiding Sweetgrass” and Founder of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment; Naomi Klein, writer and activist, Author of “This Changes Everything”, Canada; Amitav Ghosh, writer, Author of “The Great Derangement”, India; Arundhati Roy, writer and activist, India; Andreas Malm, human ecologist, Associate Professor of Human Ecology at Lund University, Sweden; Peter Godfrey-Smith, philosopher, writer, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney, Australia; Ian Haney-Lopez, political scientist, Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley, USA; Bill McKibben, writer and activist, USA; Daniel Christian Wahl, systems designer, Spain; Srdja Popovic, activist, co-founder of Otpor, Serbia; Kim Stanley Robinson, writer, Author of “Ministry for the Future”, USA; Vanessa Nakate, activist, Founder Youth for Future Africa, Uganda; Jonathan Franzen, writer, Author of “The End of the End of the Earth”, USA; Rutger Bergman, historian and writer, Author of “Human Kind: A Hopeful History”, Netherlands; Pablo Servigne, writer and collapsologist, Author of “How Everything Can Collapse” and “Another End of the World is Possible”, France; Nana Oforiatta-Ayim, writer, film-maker and art historian, founder of ANO Institute, Ghana; Mark and Paul Engler, writers, Co-Authors of “This is an Uprising”, USA; Mary Robinson, politician, Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Founder of the Mary Robinson Foundation, Ireland; Timothy Snyder, historian, Professor of History at Yale University and Author of “On Tyranny”, USA; Charles Eisenstein, writer, Author of “Climate – A New Story”, USA; Yuval Noah Harari, historian, Professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; Paccha Turner Chuji, artists and activist, Ecuadorian Amazon; Julia Steinberger, scientist, Professor of Ecological Economics at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland; Jenny Odell, artist and writer, Author of “Saving Time”, USA; Minna Salami, journalist, blogger at MsAfropolitan, Finland; Michael Kagan, rabbi, writer and entrepreneur, Co-Founder of the Jewish Climate Initiative, Israel.