Noreena Hertz & Rohan Silva on how individuals & organisations can reconnect.

Even before social distancing, loneliness was becoming the defining condition of the 21st century. But, argues academic and broadcaster Noreena Hertz, it is also one that we have the power to reverse.

In her international bestseller The Lonely Century: A Call to Reconnect, she combines a decade of research with first-hand reporting, taking in smartphone addiction, policies that place self-interest over the collective good and Japanese nursing home residents knitting for their robot caregivers. With bold solutions for individuals, businesses and governments, the woman The Observer called ‘one of the world’s leading thinkers’ joins Second Home founder and host of Radio 4’s The Disrupters, Rohan Silva.

Described as ‘one of the world’s most inspiring women’ by Vogue, Noreena Hertz is a renowned thought leader, academic and broadcaster. Her books, The Silent Takeover, I.O.U. and Eyes Wide Open, are published in more than twenty countries. Her opinion pieces have appeared in publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Financial Times, El Pais, Die Zeit and South China Morning Post. She has hosted her own show on America’s largest radio network Sirius XM show, served as ITV’s economics editor, and spoken at events including TED, the World Economic Forum in Davos and Google Zeitgeist. She has an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD from Cambridge University. Noreena is based at the Institute for Global Prosperity at University College London, where she holds an Honorary Professorship.

Rohan Silva, former special advisor to the UK Prime Minister and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Index Ventures, is one of the cofounders of Second Home.