46th TB Macaulay Lecture - with Kate Raworth

Each year the Macaulay Development Trust, in partnership with The James Hutton Institute, hosts a world-renowned guest speaker for the annual TB Macaulay Lecture. This year we are honoured to welcome ecological economist, Kate Raworth.

Doughnut Economics seeks to meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet - and places this goal at the heart of a 21st century approach to economic theory and practice. Drawing on ecological, feminist, complexity and institutional economic thought, Kate Raworth will give an overview of the core concepts of Doughnut Economics, along with examples from over 50 cities and municipalities worldwide that are now exploring how to put it into practice. How can such new economic approaches gain momentum given the prevailing global economic system?

Speaker biography

Kate Raworth is an ecological economist and creator of the Doughnut - a concept that aims to meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet - and co-founder of Doughnut Economics Action Lab. Her internationally best-selling book Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist has been translated into over 20 languages and has been widely influential with diverse audiences, from the UN General Assembly and Pope Francis to Extinction Rebellion.

Kate is a Senior Teaching Fellow at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and Professor of Practice at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Over the past 30 years, Kate’s career has taken her from working with micro-entrepreneurs in the villages of Zanzibar to co-authoring the Human Development Report for UNDP in New York, followed by a decade as Senior Researcher at Oxfam. She holds a first-class BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and MSc in Economics for Development, both from Oxford University and has honorary doctorates from the University of York, University College Dublin, KU Leuven, and Business School Lausanne.

Event details

The TB Macaulay Lecture is delivered in partnership by the Macaulay Development Trust and The James Hutton Institute. It aims to connect scientific evidence with civic society on the big issues affecting our land and people and specifically to reach those who influence and make decisions on policy.

Date: Wednesday 1 October 2025

Venue: Edinburgh International Conference Centre, EICC

Programme:

1700-1800: Pre-lecture exhibition

1800-1930: 45th TB Macaulay Lecture

1930–2100: Post-lecture reception

The event is free to attend. Please register now to reserve a seat.

Background to the TB Macaulay lecture

The annual TB Macaulay lecture is held to honour the vision of Dr Thomas Bassett Macaulay, President and chairman of the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, whose benefaction founded the original Macaulay Institute for Soil Research in 1930. He was a descendant of the Macaulays from the Island of Lewis and his aim was to improve the productivity of Scottish Agriculture. This vision continues today in its successor the James Hutton Institute, a world-leader in land, crop, water, environmental and socio-economics science.

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