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Sir John Kay
From the pin factory to the iPhone – the complete history of capitalism – The Adam Smith LectureSir John Kay is an economist whose career has spanned the academic world, business and finance, and public affairs. He has held chairs at the London Business School, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics and is a Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford, where he began…
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Dr Gavin Francis
Free For All: Why the NHS is Worth savingGavin Francis qualified in medicine in 1999, and has written nine books of non-fiction. He works as a GP in Edinburgh and in the Scottish Highlands. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the Royal College of General Practitioners, and the Royal Society of…
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Professor Neil Adger
Changing Places: Migration and Climate ChangeProfessor Neil Adger Neil Adger is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Exeter. He has published across the social and natural sciences on risk and adaptation to long-term climatic changes by people and the natural world. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and received…
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Professor Tim Birkhead
The Great Auk: greed, death and regretTim Birkhead FRS is emeritus professor of behaviour and evolution at the University of Sheffield. His research on promiscuity and sperm competition in birds re-shaped our understanding of bird mating systems. He has also maintained – through Crowd Funding —a fifty-year long-term study of guillemots on Skomer Island, Wales. The…
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Professor Steve Brusatte
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs…. and The Rise of the MammalsSteve Brusatte is Professor of Palaeontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh. He studies the evolution of dinosaurs and mammals, and has written over 170 research papers and several books, including the bestselling popular science books The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs and the Rise and Reign of…
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Professor Lord Paul Bew
Why have the British never understood Ireland/Northern Ireland The British Academy LectureRegistration requiredLord Professor Paul Bew, Queens University Belfast Paul Bew is emeritus professor of politics at Queen’s University Belfast and a cross-bench peer in the House of Lords. He was chair of the Northern Ireland Centenary Historical Advisory Panel. His publications include Churchill and Ireland (2016) and Ancestral Voices in Irish…
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Professor Anil Seth
From beast machines to dreamachinesAnil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and author of the bestselling book Being You: A New Science of Consciousness. His research brings together many different disciplines, from neuroscience to philosophy to computer science to physics, to explore the biological basis of consciousness…
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Professor Pat Monaghan
What can birds tell us about how to age slowly?This is a change to our advertised programme as the train operators strike on 16th March has severely impacted the travel of our speaker scheduled for the 15th March and so we have to postpone his talk to a later date. Pat is the Regius Professor of Zoology at the…
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Sir Philip Augar
The big end of town? Coming to terms with the CitySir Philip Augar A former banker, Philip has been commenting on the City for over twenty years. A PhD in History, he has written seven books, contributes to the Financial Times, Sunday Times and the BBC and chaired the UK government panel reviewing English tertiary education in 2018-19. The big…
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Sally Beamish
InspirationSally Beamish was born in London. She began her career as a viola player with the Raphael Ensemble, Academy of St Martins and London Sinfonietta, before moving to Scotland in 1990 to focus on composition. In 2018 she won the Award for Inspiration at the British Composer Awards, and in 2020…
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Lucasta Miller
John Keats: Body and SoulDr Lucasta Miller is a critic and biographer with a particular interest in finding new ways to approach literary lives. She is the author of The Bronte Myth and of L.E.L.: The Lost Life and Mysterious Death of the Female Byron. Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph is her most recent…
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Professor Gerry Carruthers
Robert Burns and 18th Century ThoughtProfessor Gerard Carruthers Professor of Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow Gerard Carruthers FRSE is Francis Hutcheson Professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow. He is General Editor of the Oxford University Press edition of the multi-volume edition of the Collected Works of Robert Burns and Principal Investigator of…
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Changing the Lens on Mental Health.
Alastair Campbell
Alastair Campbell Communicator, Writer, Strategist Alastair Campbell is a writer, communicator and strategist best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in politics and campaigns in Britain and overseas, he now splits his time between…
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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…
Recent News
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Key aspects of the Society’s amended constitution. Posted on October 9, 2023
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What is in your attic? Posted on September 1, 2023