Ai-jen Poo argues that we should all value caring, and carers. Ai-jen, a MacArthur Fellow, is Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, an advocacy organisation in the United States representing domestic workers, many of them carers. In this powerful, intimate talk, she tells the story of how two of her grandparents' very different experiences when they needed carer emphasised the importance of valuing caring. Producer: Giles Edwards

Beth Stevens talks about the brain cells most people have never heard of, and suggests what they might have to teach us. Beth is a neuroscientist and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, who in 2015 was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship - the so-called 'genius grant' - for her work on microglial cells. In this talk she describes the connections between her research and her own family history, and explains why these cells - for so long overlooked in favour of neurons - may be the key...

Tara Munroe reveals what she learned when she rescued some badly damaged paintings which were due to be thrown out. Tara is an arts curator and researcher. Ten years ago she found a pile of paintings marked with the words 'for disposal'. She was immediately intrigued, and as she began to research them, she became more and more drawn into their story, and how it connected with her own history. Now, a decade on, she is hoping to return them to the gallery walls, where they belong. Producer:...

Philippa Greer discusses the imprisonment of people convicted of genocide. Philippa is a human rights lawyer who has worked around the world. In this powerful talk she tells the story of a visit to West Africa to prepare for the funeral of a man who had recently died in prison. This man had been convicted of genocide, but Philippa reveals that many such prisoners will eventually be released, and what that suggests to her about the use of prison as a response to the most serious crimes...

Nicola Reindorp, who once doubted her own abilities to be a CEO, says we should rehabilitate doubt as a strength rather than a weakness in leaders. "I'd seen my own doubts as negative, disqualifying me from leadership. I had seen others believe the same. But, I asked myself, aren't the best leaders not the ones that say they have all the answers, but those who know they don't? Not those who say they see it all, but those who ask whose perspective is missing? Rather than a deficiency to be...

Eva Hnizdo reflects on the impulses which drive people to emigrate - or not, drawing on her Czech Jewish family's experience of the Holocaust and her own as a political asylum seeker. "Whenever members of my family thought about emigrating but didn't actually leave, they made a mistake, sometimes paying for it with their lives. In my case, some might say I made a mistake not to stay. Was it worth the struggle?" Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook Eva Hnizdo is a former GP and author...

Robyn Travis believes that labelling children as criminals is counterproductive in the fight against violence. He says they need to be freed from the mentality that keeps them as "prisoners to the streets". "It deeply saddens me that the media, film makers and rappers alike see a beneficial gain in telling stories which further criminalise the youth of today and yesterday without losing sleep. I don't see gang members, I see prisoners to the streets." He believes in prevention rather than...

Laura Dockrill describes her frightening experience of post partum psychosis after giving birth to her son. She calls for a wider conversation about risks to parental mental health and for help to be open to everyone. "This almost invisible illness was an assassin. An apparition that nobody else could see." "Silence only inflames the symptoms, the stigma and creates an ideal culture for a mental illness to thrive. Shame, judgment and fear follow fast in the wake and it's a perfect storm, one...

Angela Frazer-Wicks tells her extraordinary story of being a mother. Years ago, Angela's sons were taken into care and adopted, and in this powerful talk she describes her heartbreak as they gradually lost contact and she lost faith in the future. But as she explains, with support from some very unexpected places, Angela is now in a position to help other women and families going through similar experiences. Producer: Giles Edwards

Simon Morden argues that we should resist the privatisation of space. Simon is a scientist and science fiction writer, and in this talk he reflects on what science fiction has taught us. "We know about the hubris of science through Frankenstein, we know of totalitarian state-controlled media through 1984, and we also know it’s a terrible idea to break quarantine protocols through the film Alien," he says. "Science fiction doesn’t prevent us from doing those things, but we can’t say we didn’t...

Jessica Barker argues that we should rediscover overlooked sculptures of women. She didn't know it at the time, but as a child Jessica spent part of every Christmas day looking at a famous medieval monument. Later, when she became an expert in medieval art, she was angered by the phrase 'and his wife', so often associated with such monuments. Yet as she dug into the stories behind the women depicted in them, she discovered a more surprising, more subversive, and more interesting...

Steven Dowd's life changed in an instant one spring morning in 2016. In this inspiring talk, Steven describes what happened, and how a promise to his wife enabled him to regain control of the change - and his life. Producer: Giles Edwards

Professor Atul Shah draws on his background as a Jain to argue that we need a healthier relationship with finance: people often feel afraid of money matters because they lack knowledge and are prey to unplanned debt. He calls for more teaching about finance in schools and in the home, plus a more balanced attitude to consumption. “When money was invented, it was supposed to serve society – instead today it has become our master.” Professor Atul Shah is Professor of Accounting and Finance at...

Joe Friedman, who grew up with deaf parents, reflects on what it means to hear. As a young psychotherapist, treating one particularly challenging client taught him the difference between listening that was only "skin deep" and really hearing someone else's pain. It helped him to lose his "deaf ears". "I assumed, like my parents, that being Hearing meant you could communicate, listen and hear - naturally. On reflection, of course, this is obviously idiotic. We all know people whose ears...

Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre argues against the tyranny of positivity which forms part of a culture of "performative wellness", which she says sees illness as a form of personal failure. When extrapolated to other aspects of human life, this attitude is a "poison to society". Presenter; Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

Leon Bosch reflects on the power of classical music to transform lives, beginning with his own. He overcame the obstacles of racism in apartheid era South Africa to study the classical double bass. Despite encountering prejuduce in the UK, too, after moving here to study, he went on to build a distinguished international career as a virtuoso performer, conductor and teacher. He is currently Professor of double bass at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and director of the chamber...

Luke Rigg argues that more young magistrates will improve justice. When Luke told his friends and family he wanted to be a magistrate aged just 20, they all had one question: "Why are you doing that, Luke?" In this talk Luke takes us inside the magistrates' courts where for six years he has been convicting, sentencing, and acquitting offenders, many of his own age, to explain how he answers that question. Luke is introduced by host Olly Mann. Producer: Giles Edwards.

Tracey Follows explores how virtual assistants can help us survive after death. Tracey is a futurist who has become fascinated by the memories of people after they die, and in this talk she asks who and what is being memorialised - is it us, or something else altogether? Producer: Giles Edwards

Dr Shona Minson argues that we shouldn't punish children if their parents go to prison. Years ago, as a barrister specialising in care cases, Shona was familiar with the Children Act, and in particular its central principle: that the child's best interests are the paramount consideration of the court. And so when she was asked to write about what happened to children when their mums were imprisoned, she assumed something similar would apply, or at least that she could find some research...

Dr. Tamsin Ellis is a GP who looks for ways to improve her patients' health and the environment. Welcoming us into her consulting room to meet her patients, Tamsin describes her journey to climate activism, and why she's convinced that looking for 'double wins' is the way forward. From giving a lecture about the environment to a sea of faces all sipping coffee from plastic cups, to the challenges of winning over already hard-pressed colleagues, in this witty talk Tamsin describes the...

Jak Beula says statues and memorials matter because they show who a society values. His organisation is working to erect more to honour people of colour, including a new statue which he has designed for Windrush and Commonwealth nurses and midwives at the Whittington Hospital in London. "It helps to improve equality and inclusion, to uncover the stories of historic characters who have positively impacted Britain, but for whatever reason remain unknown, unsung and unheralded." Dr Jak Beula...

Helena Goodwyn interrogates the near universal practice of giving children their father’s - not their mother’s - surname. She and her husband plan to buck the trend in a stand against structural inequality when their first baby is born. "We have the feminist movement to thank for many of the changes that have led us to our present moment, where broadly speaking, British society no longer stigmatises people based on whether they were conceived in or outside of marriage but in the case of...

Sergeant Rhys Rutledge of the Welsh Guards explains why he thinks people deserve a second chance after turning his own life around from convicted drug dealer to successful soldier. He's set up a project with the Army's backing called Defeat Don't Repeat to help prisoners and young people who might be at rick of offending to stay away from crime. Through presentations and a residential training course involving physical challenges and teamwork, he aims to communicate a message of hope. "I want...

Dina Rezk describes how she made a friend of fear following the murder of her mother. The trauma of her mother's violent sudden death risked leaving her with a crippling sense of fear which she called "the beast". Over time she has found an ultimately life affirming way to live with it. "My life force had to match its presence. I had to exist in conversation with it rather than deny or repress its existence." Dr Dina Rezk is Associate Professor and lecturer in Middle Eastern History at the...

Alastair Hendy explains why he thinks we've lost our food culture and how we can rediscover it. Remembering the seventies when convenience food was less available and it was normal to cook from scratch, he urges us to understand more about where our food comes from and calls for basic cookery skills to be taught again in schools. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook aghendy.com