Open lectures: Semester 1 - 2023-24
Every semester, the University organises free open lectures on a wide variety of topics and aimed at a general audience.
Most require tickets (available on individual event pages) but some do not. Where tickets are needed, this is also indicated in the publicity.
Upcoming events
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Past events
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Re-centring Sistan: Archaeology in an epic land
Sistan, neglected in research, aims to reclaim historical importance through legacy data and satellite imagery.
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Hybrid air vehicles
The talk will explore the history of lighter-than-air technology and the innovative development of the hybrid aircraft, “Airlander”.
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The poiesis of drapery in Italian Art 1400-1520
Drapery in Renaissance art conveyed unique artistic expression and natural inspiration, often overlooked, influencing how artists embodied life in their works.
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Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto
Explore Gabrielle Chanel's iconic fashion evolution from 1910 to 1971 with the curator of the UK's first dedicated exhibition.
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The Wiener Holocaust Library at 90: Ruth Wiener’s story
Ruth Wiener, daughter of Wiener Holocaust Library founders, survived Nazi occupation, transit camps, and Bergen-Belsen, sharing her extraordinary journey through donated papers.
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Does meritocracy threaten social equality? How norms and myths shape our view of the good society
The Department of Philosophy and Royal Institute of Philosophy present Professor Fabian Schuppert.
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Helen Chadwick, Unbound
In 1990, Helen Chadwick's Viral Landscapes symbolised the interplay of humans, digital technology, and HIV in contemporary landscapes.
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Human Rights Leadership: Challenges, perspectives, futures
Join us for CAHR@15 as we celebrate generations of masters’ students who have engaged critically with the law and politics of human rights on our interdisciplinary programmes.
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City of Marvels
Join Writers at York for the launch of City of Marvels, a new chapbook by J R Carpenter, published by Broken Sleep Books.
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Clinical AI: Cure or disease?
AI in healthcare promises improved outcomes but poses patient safety risks. Ibrahim Habli explores safe AI use, sharing cases and strategies.
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CANCELLED - The Power of Blue: Didactic models in text and image in Christine de Pizan's Epistre Othea
Christine de Pizan's Epistre Othea uses 101 images to empower women through exemplary figures and didactic models in blue.
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Disability representation in past, present and future stories
Anna Bramwell-Dicks explores disability representation in traditional and interactive media, highlighting potential issues and advocating for better, inclusive portrayals.
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Holotechnica: Exploring the nexus of altered states
Holotechnica consists of a database of different consciousness-expanding techniques, meditations, and protocols that can be combined in a form of dialogos...
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Revoicing Medieval Poetry
Join poets Susie Campbell and Ruth Wiggins for an evening of readings and discussion about their recent poetry publications.
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Building a policy-focussed global health economics research programme
The third of three Policy Forums reflecting the areas of work of the Centre for Health Economics over its 40 year history.
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Women in cinema
Corinna McFarlane will be discussing her path into the film industry, from thespian to Cannes, and her experience as a filmmaker.
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Metaphysics in psychedelic therapy and research
Dr Peter Sjostedt-Hughes advocates integrating metaphysics into psychedelic therapy for enhanced patient understanding and long-term benefits. Explore psychedelic-induced metaphysical experiences and their potential significance.
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Towards decoloniality and justice
This lecture highlights the significance of acknowledging the colonial history of development and how neglecting the past hinders justice.
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The View From Down Here
Hear from journalist and disability advocate Lucy Webster as she discusses the struggles, joys and unseen realities of being a disabled woman.
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Nothing
This talk will be about Nothing. It is not the case that there will be no thing that Suki will be talking about, nevertheless she will indeed talk about the absence of referents as well as reference to absence.
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Rooms: Francis Bacon in wartime London
In 1942, Francis Bacon's move to a bomb-damaged 7 Cromwell Place in South Kensington fueled groundbreaking art amid wartime destruction.
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On not being taught
Visiting Professor Adam Phillips presents his first talk of the 23-24 academic year.
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The Future of Fakery: Deepfakes, generative AI and the fight for authenticity
Bo Bergstedt will explore the expanding realm of Generative AI, focusing on its applications in image, video and audio generation.
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Right to a healthy climate: Something we can all drink to
A panel discussion on the theme of healthy rivers and drinking water.
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Beyond 1190: The bigger story of York's Jewish communities
York's Jewish history, overshadowed by 1190, reveals thriving communities pre-1290 and an Orthodox presence until 1975. Rediscover their importance.
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The Hebrew Stones of Basel: Appropriation and melancholy after the Black Death
Eva Frojmovic explores post-Black Death (1348-9) ruins as signs of melancholia, mourning the murdered Jewish neighbours through art and history.
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Ask the Author: 101 Curious Tales of East African Birds
Dive into the fascinating world of birds in the first installment of YESI's new Ask the Author series!
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Black Victorians: Hidden in History
Join Keshia N. Abraham and John Woolf to discover the hidden histories of fascinating, influential and remarkable people of colour in the nineteenth-century.
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Psychedelics as nature connection catalysts
The rising disconnection between humans and nature may harm mental health and the environment. Could psychedelics, like psilocybin, boost our connection with nature?
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Can fairer processes in public services promote the public good?
What does the public think fairness looks like in interactions between people and public services?
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The Power of the Outsider
Join Samuel Kasumu, formerly the most senior black advisor to Boris Johnson’s government, as he discusses the power of the outsider and how our differences can be a force for good – in politics and beyond.
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Northern Poetry
The Department of English and Related Literature is delighted to host a reading by the poets Kit Fan and Tristram Fane Saunders.
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No and Low Alcohol: The future of drinking?
Explore the role that 'NoLos’ - No and Low Alcohol' drinks might play - or might not play - in their people’s lives and drinking routines.
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Film accessibility through sound design: A panel discussion with filmmakers
Join us for a discussion on accessible filmmaking within the context of the Enhanced Audio Description (EAD) methods.
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Creation and creatureliness: Any relevance nowadays?
The notion of divine creation sparks debate. We explore early Christian views on creation, its relevance today, and address human projections and suffering.
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The Dark Side: Time, decay, preservation and the museum
Museums confront the paradox of preserving amidst decay. We'll explore decay's meaning, time models, and preservation's profound impact.
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Brain and Heart: The dynamic connection
Clinical neuropsychologist Kalliopi Megari from CITY College, University of York Europe Campus provides intriguing insights into the dynamic relationship and strong connection between the heart and the brain.
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Institutional responses to shrinking academic spaces in Latin America: The ambiguous role of academic institutions
Human rights violations and academic freedom attacks in Latin America target outspoken academics, often lacking effective institutional responses.
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Communicating with the Voyager spacecraft
The Voyager spacecraft, launched in the '70s, is still active after 50 years. Andy Marvin will explain the science behind their continued communication.
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What's scarier: Drugs or drug policy?
A Drug Science Halloween Special, in-person and online in collaboration with the University of York 's Drug Science Student Society.
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The Black Snow Roadshow: The past lives on
This evening of screening, exhibition, music and readings explores the impact of England’s worst coal mining disaster - at Oaks Colliery in Barnsley in 1866.
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“A flaw in the great diamond of the world”: On contemporary psychology and the enigmas of subjectivity
In this lecture Louis Sass considers the enigmatic nature of human subjectivity, which the philosopher Merleau-Ponty referred to as the “flaw in the great diamond of the world.”
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Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection
Can a new story of human emotions help us to find ourselves today?
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Writing from home: Decolonial agenda and sensitivity in writing on and with Central Asia
Dr Diana T Kudaibergenova from the University of Cambridge will deliver the annual lecture for the Steppe Sisters Network.
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Uprising, abolition and constitutions
This talk discusses how enslaved individuals' uprisings challenged the perception of Britain's commitment to liberty, both before and after slavery's abolition.
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Law, racism and resistance
York Law School host four powerful speakers who, drawing on their experiences as campaigners, lawyers, and writers, will explore the various ways in which racism is embedded within the structures and institutions of the legal system.
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Tales from the chalk-face: 28 years of teaching Computer Science at York
Professor Steve King reflects on what he has learnt from (and about) students over his career of nearly 30 years as an academic.
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The York-Dublin Axis Reconsidered – 21st-century approaches to Viking Towns
York and Dublin, Viking towns, shared rulers, rich archaeological findings, extensive records, and evolving Viking heritage perceptions since the 1980s.
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How much should we pay for innovation? Fair pricing for pharmaceuticals
The second of three Policy Forums reflecting the areas of work of the Centre for Health Economics over its 40 year history.
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Slavery and other forms of unfree labour, 1850-1945
This panel discusses two new books on slavery and other forms of unfree labour by York staff.
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Setting up and establishing a Fair Trade chocolate start-up
Professor Bob Doherty shares his entrepreneurial experiences as the first ever Head of Sales and Marketing at the start-up Fairtrade social enterprise, Divine Chocolate Ltd.
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CANCELLED - African universities as sites of activism and protection
Researchers from the Political Studies Department at the University of the Western Cape will report on a workshop held in August at UWC titled, Protecting Universities, Protecting Democracy: Universities as Sites of Protection and Activism.
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The heart of the state: Emotional and moral economies of migration policing
Join us for a public lecture by Professor Ana Aliverti as she explores the emotional and moral economies of migration policing in Britain.
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Will psilocybin lose its magic in the clinical setting?
This talk will look at a patient case study from the recent phase IIb Compass Pathways trial looking at Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression that ran in Newcastle, and consider a number of ethical issues in psychedelic research.
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Bodies on the Line
Inspired by discussions surrounding increasing threats to traditional forms of resistance both in the UK and globally - we aim to explore the role of the body in contemporary forms of protest.
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Challenges in the design and development of a combat UAV
A discussion about the JACKAL combat UAV (drone) and the challenges a SME has in taking on the big primes in their own backyard, and how the MOD is changing.
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How electron cryo-microscopy aids the design of new medicines: Bringing proteins into focus
Join us for the official opening of the Eleanor and Guy Dodson Building, the University's state-of-the-art research space in structural biochemistry.
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Fakes and forgeries in the Islamic art market: A study of three problematic pieces
Dr Richard McClary discusses forgeries in the Islamic art market and how some are in leading art collections in the world and remain on display.
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Generative AI and automation of media
This talk will demonstrate how simple it is for anybody to use the power of AI to simplify or automate common language and media tasks.
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Paying for emergency care: Why one size (probably) doesn't fit all
The first of three Policy Forums reflecting the areas of work of the Centre for Health Economics over its 40 year history.
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The politics of playing with history
In his inaugural lecture, Professor Ben Poore discusses the development of his research on dramas of the past – from neo-Victorian plays, to dramas of empire, to the contemporary history play – in the context of British politics since Thatcherism.
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Parental grief and cultural differences: The case of a brain dead daughter in Japan
Masahiro Morioka will talk about parental grief and the differences between cultures.