We are pleased to invite you to the next talk in our Online Academic Lecture Series, showcasing the ground-breaking research work of Worcester academics and Fellows.

For this lecture, we are privileged to welcome Professor Paulo Savaget, Associate Professor of Engineering and Engineering Entrepreneurship. He will be speaking to Old Members on ‘Workarounds for Complex Problems’, based on his recent book, The Four Workarounds.

Paulo holds a joint appointment between the Department of Engineering Science and the Saïd Business School, and his primary fields of expertise are entrepreneurship, sustainable development, systems change, and innovation management. Outside academia, he worked as an entrepreneur and as a consultant to large companies, governments, and intergovernmental organisations. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge, as a Gates Scholar.

Paulo Savaget shows how “scrappy” organizations tackle seemingly intractable problems – such as illegal logging, caste discrimination, and diarrheal deaths – through workarounds that achieve massive wins with minimal resources. Savaget identified the four workarounds that these groups commonly employ – the piggyback, the loophole, the roundabout, and the next best – and demonstrates how to know which one to use when.

The lecture will be hosted online via Zoom on Thursday 18 April at 5.00-6.00pm GMT, with a recording uploaded to YouTube after the lecture for those unable to join us live.

If you are interested in attending or receiving a link to the lecture recording, please book using the form below. Attendance is free for all Old Members. If you would like to register a non-alumnus for the event, please use this form.

Please note that your Zoom link will be sent to you the week of the lecture.