Welcome to Malvern Festival of Ideas
4-6 March 2022
Conversation. Discussion. Education.
The theme for 2022 is Imagine. With our wealth of art, science, literature and history, what is the world we imagine? What is the future of democracy, the Union, the health and education services and the environment? Can we imagine a world where we act for the benefits of the earth’s communities? What steps should we be taking? These are just some of the questions we hope to address.
Our Speakers
Tim Jackson
Ecological Economist, Writer and Playwright
Jane Davidson
Former minister for environment, sustainability and housing in the Welsh Government
Dominic Grieve
British barrister and former politician and Attorney General
Melissa Benn
Journalist, Writer and Campaigner
Will Hutton
Journalist, Author and Chief Executive
Steve Richards
Broadcaster and political columnist
Raoul Martinez
Artist, Writer, and Documentarian
Onjali Q Raúf
Bestselling author and human rights activist
Tom McLeish
Theoretical Physicist, Academic Leader and Author
Julia Neuberger
Rabbi, Crossbench Peer, Social Commentator and Writer
Tom Crawford
Teaching and Outreach Fellow in Mathematics
Lucy Eckersley
Wild Animal Biologist and Science Presenter
Hannah McDowall and Jake Garber
Canopy Social Imagination Project
Malvern Festival of Ideas 2022 Tickets
Tickets for the sessions will be available early 2022. This year, we have a Progressive Payment System:
Standard - the price that enables us to recover costs;
Patron - an enhanced price that supports our discounted ticket;
Discount - a subsidised ticket.
You choose the ticket price suitable for you.
The Team
Andrew Webb
Festival Director
Sian Evans
Speaker Liaison
Laura Davies
Publicity and marketing
Dylan Cochrane
Video and image production
Miriam Webb
Programme Planning
Our Venues
Malvern St James School
15 Avenue Rd, Malvern WR14 3BA
Conveniently located close to Great Malvern railway station, the school provides all catering and conference requirements for most of the sessions.
Malvern Cube Community Centre
Albert Road North, Malvern, WR14 2YF
A short walk from the school, the Cube is the venue for the Family Day activities and science presentations.
Accommodation
The Visit the Malverns website has an accommodation finder & interactive map to browse all of its accommodation listings. The Abbey Hotel has provided preferential rates for Festival attenders.
Abbey Hotel
Abbey Rd, Great Malvern WR14 3ET
Go to the Abbey Hotel website, put in your date of arrival and departure and then click on the ‘more options’ box. In this box type 040322FEST which will bring up the rates
Past Events
Recent Festivals
2021: Unity and Diversity
Is the uniting force in some ways is stronger than divisions? What can we learn from our (positive) experiences and build on to face future threats and how? How do we need to change? What reforms are needed?
2020: Brave New World
In a rapidly changing world, can we look to the future positively and with hope? In what ways can emerging ideas in areas relating to social policy, economics, medicine, science, politics, psychology, arts, foreign policy and faith lead to a better world?
2019: Crisis
Exploring crisis in the NHS, mental health, democracy and politics: what are the issues and are we able to address them?