View recent past lectures
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Left Behind: How poor places can get trapped, and how they can catch up.
Professor Sir Paul Collier
The Bowman Lecture in association with the University of GlasgowProfessor Sir Paul Collier Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School, University of Oxford. Sir Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and a Professorial Fellow of St Antony’s College. From 1998–2003 he took a five-year Public Service leave during…
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General Practice at the Deep End
Professor Graham Watt
Please note that this is a change to the advertised talk caused by unforeseen circumstances. Professor Graham Watt MD FRCGP FRSE FMedSci CBE Emeritus Professor, General Practice and Primary Care, University of Glasgow Graham has a long term research interest in health and disease in families which he began at…
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The Nature of Justice.
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC Specialist in Civil Liberties and Human Rights Baroness Helena Kennedy KC is one of Britain's most distinguished lawyers. She has spent her professional life giving voice to those who have least power within the system, championing civil liberties and promoting human rights. She has conducted many…
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Making a materials difference to Green Energy (batteries included).
Professor Saiful Islam
Professor Saiful Islam Saiful Islam is Professor of Materials Science at the University of Oxford. He grew up in London and obtained his Chemistry degree and PhD from University College London, followed by a Research Fellowship at the Eastman Kodak Labs, New York. He joined Oxford in 2022 after 16…
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The impact of brain injury on vision: what does this teach us about how our minds see?
Professor Gordon Dutton
Wednesday 12 October Professor Gordon Dutton Professor of Visual Science, Glasgow Caledonian University Professor Gordon Dutton was a Consultant Ophthalmologist in Glasgow for 25 years, initially as a Senior Lecturer, then later as a paediatric ophthalmologist. During this time, visual impairment resulting from brain injury became increasingly common, leading to…
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The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company.
William Dalrymple
Wednesday 28th September 2022 William Dalrymple Historian, Author and Broadcaster William Dalrymple is one of Britain’s great historians and the bestselling author of the Wolfson Prize-winning White Mughals, The Last Mughal, which won the Duff Cooper Prize, and the Hemingway and Kapuściński award-winning Return of a King. His most recent…
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Why high blood pressure is the world’s number 1 killer
Prof Rhian Touyz
Professor Rhian M. Touyz is Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec. Prof. Touyz is recognized internationally as an authority in vascular biology and hypertension. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Prof. Touyz earned her BSc with Honours (1980), her…
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British Academy Lecture: Fair work for our future?
Prof Patricia Findlay
Delivered by the most outstanding academics in the UK and beyond, the British Academy’s flagship lecture programme showcases the very best scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. The quality of work plays an important role in individual well-being and in supporting family and community life. The potential of ‘fair’…
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Scotland can prosper post-pandemic – the proof is in the Highlands.
Prof Lorne Crerar
The establishment of Highlands and Islands Development Board in 1965 was at the time a unique experiment to improve economic and social conditions for the people of the Highlands and Islands .How do the outcomes of that experiment and the work of its successor body, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, inform…
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Diversity and its Reversals: reflections on half a century of change.
Prof Sally Mapstone FRSE
Professor Sally Mapstone joined the University of St Andrews as Principal and Vice-Chancellor in September 2016. She had previously served since 2009 as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Personnel and Equality and since 2011 as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at the University of Oxford. She maintains a strong interest in issues both of access…
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The Thoughts the Civilized Keep: How to Reclaim Human Intelligence in an Age of Machine Thinking
Prof Shannon Vallor
Professor Shannon Vallor I am the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh's Edinburgh Futures Institute, where I am also appointed as Professor in Philosophy. My research explores the philosophy and ethics of emerging science and technologies. My current research project…
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An enduring art – Opera in Scotland.
Alex Reedijk
Register for live lecture here Alex Reedijk joined Scottish Opera as General Director in February 2006, following four years at the helm of the NBR New Zealand Opera. Prior to this post he was Executive Director of the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts. His career includes extensive experience…
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The Adam Smith Lecture – The health and wealth of nations: pitfalls and opportunities in the economic recovery from the pandemic
Prof Anton Muscatelli
Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli FRSE AcSS Sir Anton is Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Glasgow, since 1 October 2009. From 2007-2009 he was Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University. An economist, his research interests are monetary economics, central bank independence, fiscal policy, international finance and macroeconomics. Prior to 2007 he…
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What would Lister do in a post-pandemic world?
Prof Iain McInnes
“What would Lister do in a post-pandemic world?” The pandemic arising from the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has been a salutary reminder to society of our interdependence on each other within societies, our global connectivity and our environment. The global interactions upon which so much progress has been built, rendered us…
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Eugenics: A Dark History and Troubling Present
Dr Adam Rutherford
Eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population, historically by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or promoting those judged to be superior. In recent years, the term has seen a revival in bioethical discussions on the…
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The making, keeping and losing of memory
Prof. Richard Morris
The capacity for memory is one of our prize possessions – defining our individuality and affording the bonds that cement so many aspects of friendship and family life. Remembrance is a facet of our culture and ordinary everyday memory essential in our daily life and work. But how does memory…
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The Gendered Brain: Do you have a female brain or a male brain? Or are we asking the wrong question?
Professor Gina Rippon
Abstract: For centuries both neuroscience and behavioural science have been pursuing a Hunt the Difference agenda, trying to find ways of characterising the differences between the brains and behaviour of females and males. But are they asking the right questions? Can brain scientists tell the differences between female and male…
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The changing shape of flies
Dr Erica McAlister
From the tips of their antennae to the end of their legs, fly morphology is as varied and diverse as their ecology and habitat. They have adapted to living up Mountains, in caves, and some have even made it into the sea – but these aren’t the most extreme…
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What has the pandemic taught us about human nature?
Professor Stephen Reicher
The 18 months of the Covid pandemic have taught us much about the importance of understanding behaviour and the problems of getting it wrong. I shall point to three key messages. The first is that behaviour matters at a societal and policy level as well as an individual level. The…
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Discovering the Picts: From Enemies of Rome to Powerful Kingdoms of Early Medieval Scotland
Prof Gordon Noble
The Picts were first mentioned in late Roman sources and went on to become powerful rulers of northern Britain in what is now Northeast Scotland. Bereft of detailed historical sources, archaeological evidence is needed to illuminate the Pictish period. The Northern Picts project at the University of Aberdeen has been…