I am a writer and teacher on creative thinking about the art of living and social change.

I am a founding faculty member of The School of Life, a cultural enterprise based in London that offers instruction and inspiration on the art of living. I co-designed and teach The School's courses on work, love and politics, and am their resident expert on Empathy. I was named by The Observer as one of Britain's leading lifestyle thinkers for 2010.

For several years I was Project Director at The Oxford Muse, the foundation established by the avant-garde thinker and historian Theodore Zeldin to stimulate courage and invention in personal, professional and cultural life. I studied at the universities of Oxford, London and Essex, where I gained my PhD. I have taught sociology and politics at Cambridge University and City University, London, and have done human rights work in Central America with refugees and indigenous people.

I act as an advisor to organisations such as Oxfam and the United Nations on empathy development and social change. I regularly speak at festivals and other public events on topics such as empathy, the history of love, the art of conversation and the future of work. Recent engagements include the Latitude arts festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Greenbelt festival, the Henry VIII exhibition at the British Library, the London Design Festival, and the New Economics Foundation's Bigger Picture festival.

I am the author of a book on what sport can teach us about ambition, The First Beautiful Game, and have just completed a new book on empathy, which will be out shortly. I am currently writing a book on what we can learn from history about the art of living, to be published by Profile Books. My list of other publications is available here. I also write a blog about empathy called Outrospection.

I am based in Oxford, UK, but have also lived in Australia, Hong Kong, Spain and the United States. I am a fanatical real tennis player, have worked as a gardener and have a passion for furniture making.

My ambition is to establish the world's first Empathy Museum, an experiential gallery and adventure space open to the public in which you will discover how to see the world from the perspective of others.