Dr Jonathan Rowson

Jonathan Rowson is Founding Director of Perspectiva—a research institute that studies the interaction of systems, souls and society through transdisciplinary inquiry.

Jonathan was formerly Director of the Social Brain Centre at the RSA where, over the course of six years, he led a range of social innovation projects and hosted related events. He has authored a range of influential reports including Connected Communities: How social networks power and sustain the big society (2010), Transforming Behaviour Change: Beyond nudge and neuromania (2011), Beyond the Big Society: Psychological foundations of adaptive citizenship (2012), A New Agenda on Climate Change: facing up to stealth denial and winding down on fossil fuels (2013), Spiritualise: Revitalising Spirituality to address 21st Century Challenges (2014) and Money Talks: Divest Invest and the battle for climate realism (2015). He is currently working on The Seven Dimensions of Climate Change: rethinking the world’s toughest problem which will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2017.

Jonathan is an ontological activist (campaigning for reality) with degrees spanning a range of humanities and social sciences from Oxford, Harvard and Bristol Universities. In a former life he was a chess Grandmaster and British Champion (2004–6); he has written four books on the game and views it as a continuing source of insight and inspiration.

He is on the editorial board of The Journal for the Study of Spirituality. He is a Trustee at Climate Outreach and a Governor at Brandlehow Primary School. He lives in Putney, London, with his wife Siva, and their two sons Kailash and Vishnu.

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