Danny Sriskandarajah: Can this be the century of the citizen?
19 May 2026, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Location: School of Management building (10 East), Room 0.18, University of Bath BA2 7AY
Think tank: Institute for Policy Research
This event hosted by UK think tank the Institute for Policy Research discusses citizen power and shares ideas for how people can reclaim power.
Danny Sriskandarajah discusses citizen power in action and shares ideas for how people can reclaim power and change the world.
Civic space is under attack in many parts of the world, democracy feels fragile, economic inequality is rising and the digital tools that were supposed to connect and empower us are weakening the social fabric. Yet Danny Sriskandarajah, an experienced civil society leader and author of ‘Power to the People’, believes that this can and will be the century of the citizen.
He presents his manifesto for change, designed to inspire citizen action around the world. He explores how we, as individuals, can make a difference through greater community engagement, and how we can reimagine our democracy and democratise our economies to deliver as a society that works for the many and not the few. From public ownership of social media spaces to democratising share ownership, and from re-energising cooperatives to creating a people’s chamber at the United Nations, he shares ideas for how we can reclaim our power and change the world.
Speaker biography: Danny Sriskandarajah became the CEO of the New Economics Foundation in January 2025. Previous roles have included running CIVICUS, the Johannesburg-based alliance of civil society organisations, and being CEO of Oxfam GB, where he introduced a series of reforms to involve partner organisations and challenge fundraising orthodoxies. He is a Trustee of the Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation, a member of the UN’s High Level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs, and a member of Quadrature Climate Foundation’s Advisory Council. He has previously served as a Trustee of Comic Relief, the Disasters Emergency Committee and on two United Nations high-level panels. His opinion pieces have been published in newspapers in more than 30 countries, and he regularly appears on broadcast media, including programmes such as the BBC’s Today programme, Hard Talk and Question Time. He is the author of Power to the People: Use Your Voice, Change the World.
