Event
What to expect: Every Thursday, Venture Cafe host curated sessions featuring live startup demos, deep-dive workshops, expert office hours, and thought-provoking panels on the most urgent challenges and opportunities in tech and science.
Who it’s for: Startup founders, researchers, policymakers, investors, technologists, creatives, and anyone building the future.
Free and open to all, their gatherings are designed to accelerate ideas, foster meaningful connections, and surface new opportunities across sectors and disciplines.
📍 Where: 1 Triton Square, NW1
Metascience: Salvation or False Hope?
May 21, 2026, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Interest in metascience and AI for science has risen in the last year, with new ways of conducting and funding research growing across the UK, US, and beyond. Skeptics say we’ve had decades of metascience thinkers but repeatedly hear about innovation and technologies being held back.
So what’s new? And what works? Join BuildsBio, Renphil, UCL & Science Works to explore some of the foundational challenges with metascience & the opportunities ahead as we optimise research productivity.
- Sam Balch – UCL Grand Challenges Program on Research, Innovation and Global Engagement
- Ronit Kanwar – Renaissance Philanthropy
- Laura Ryan – Science Works
- Dr. Victoria Austin – UCL Grand Challenges, Global Disability Hub CIC
- Additional Speakers – PVPs working on Grand Challenge Programs – Climate Crisis, Mental Health and Well Being, Data Empowered Societies
Social Media & Human Health: An Evening with the Centre for Technology and the Body, King’s College
We are living through an unprecedented experiment. Billions of people—including entire generations of young people—now spend hours each day on platforms designed to capture attention, shape identity, and influence mood. The impacts on mental health, sleep, body image, and social connection are only just coming into focus.
Join us for an evening of honest, evidence‑based conversation about what social media is doing to our bodies and minds. Hear from leading thinkers at the forefront of this work, and leave with a clearer sense of the science, the stakes, and what might be done. The evening also includes a guided breathwork workshop—an opportunity to step away from screens and reconnect with your body.
This event forms part of King’s College London’s Centre for Technology and the Body, where researchers are urgently investigating how modern technologies are reshaping human health and self‑understanding.
Existential Hope: Ambitious futures, grounded in science
Join scientists, founders, funders, and policymakers to explore frontier science, technology, and ambitious futures. In partnership with the Foresight Institute—a San Francisco–based research organization known for backing groundbreaking scientists—we’ll examine existential hope and how bold, science‑driven visions can shape technological progress.
Hear from the Foresight team on their programs and Existential Hope initiative, plus lightning talks from research fellows working at the cutting edge. Whether you’re a scientist, founder, or simply curious about building a hopeful future, join us for an evening of talks, networking, and connection.
London Tech Week: Capturing The Value of the Technological Revolution
Despite strengths in research, talent, and entrepreneurship, the UK often struggles to turn innovation into globally competitive industries. Its success in this next wave will depend on building a full-spectrum innovation economy that scales ideas into firms and national capability.
The event will bring together investors, founders, corporates, policymakers, and researchers to foster cross-sector collaboration and help drive the UK’s next phase of growth.