Rutger Bregman is a historian and journalist and one of Europe's most prominent young thinkers. He became known worldwide in 2019 with his furious speech against the business leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Handelsblatt newspaper calls him an anti-establishment star. He is the author of international bestsellers that have sparked global debates on progress, justice and social responsibility. Bregman (*1988) studied history at Utrecht University and the University of California, Los Angeles. He originally aspired to an academic career, but switched to journalism early on. He first wrote for the Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant and then spent ten years writing for the journalistic platform De Correspondent. His work has made him an important voice in international debates on social inequality, political reform and the question of how social change can be achieved. In 2024, he founded the School for Moral Ambition, which aims to inspire people to focus their careers on social benefit rather than purely on personal gain. Rutger Bregman wants to show how to stop wasting your talent and create something that really matters. His books Utopia for Realists and Humankind reached the top of the New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller lists and have been translated into over forty languages. His TED Talk on poverty is one of the top ten TED Talks of 2017. In 2025, he published his book Moral Ambition, which describes the idea of strategically using personal talent for the common good. In September 2025, Rutger Bregman became a BBC Reith Lecturer, a very rare honour that underlines his importance in the international intellectual landscape. Bregman has already been nominated twice for the prestigious European Press Prize. The British Guardian described him as “the Dutch wunderkind of new ideas”, while TED considers him “one of Europe’s most prominent young thinkers”. Rutger Bregman’s ideas for improving the world are innovative and courageous, leaving his readers and listeners alike feeling hopeful about the future.