Public Lectures at the University of York

A lecture audience (c) John Houlihan

Every term, the University organises free public lectures on a wide variety of topics and aimed at a general audience.  Some require tickets (available from the Communications Office) but most do not. Where tickets are needed, this is indicated in the publicity.

We distribute information on upcoming lectures to interested members of the public at the start of each academic term (October, January and April). If you would like to receive a free copy of this leaflet either by email or by post, please join our mailing list.  Updated lecture details are also available here on our web pages. As they are updated frequently, they may publicise lectures which we were unable to include in the leaflet.

This term, the series The nanoworld: Exploration and exploitation will focus on the world of nanoscience and explore how it enriches and stimulates technological innovation, why it is so important for the understanding of our natural environment and how it helps us to develop new technologies for an improved healthcare.

Upcoming events

Mon
23
Nov

History of Art at York: From the medieval to the modern

Four professors in the Department of History of Art will give inaugural lectures on the theme 'History of Art at York: From the medieval to the modern'.

Mon
30
Nov

On what there might be: Faith seeking understandings

The Archbishop of York will talk about Faith.

Tue
1
Dec

'To make you see': Modernism's visual turn

Professor Marcus will talk about modernism.

Tue
1
Dec

Seeing the wood for the trees: Nanoparticles and the environment

The talk will discuss the potential risks of engineered nanoparticles in the environment and the challenges researchers face trying to assess them.

Wed
2
Dec

Of maize and men or peas and people: the value of plants as model systems in molecular biology

There are many examples of fundamental discoveries in biology that were made first in plants. Hooke’s first description of cells. More recently a class of small regulatory RNA that is common to many eukaryotes was first discovered in plants. I will describe how discovery of these small RNAs has opened up new opportunities for the treatment and diagnosis of disease in people and in animals and for improvement of crop plants.

Wed
2
Dec

“It's All Hormonal": Puberty, biomedical technologies and responsibility

Dr Celia Roberts will talk about puberty, biomedical technologies and responsibility.

Mon
7
Dec

How we understand language

Professor Gerry Altmann will give his inaugural lecture entitled 'How we understand language'.

Tue
8
Dec

Visit to the York JEOL Nanocentre

This visit to the Nanocentre supplements the lecture series 'The nanoworld: Exploration and exploitation'.

Tue
8
Dec

Nanoscience in Nature: What corals and sea snails teach us

The skeleton and shell formation in marine organisms cannot be understood without nanoscience and nanoscience has still a lot to learn from nature.

Mon
14
Dec

When workers own business: What happens, and why?

Professor Andrew Pendleton will give his inaugural lecture entitled 'When workers own business: What happens, and why?'.

Tue
15
Dec

Quantum engineering: A tale of teeny tiny technologies

This is a small (not tall) tale, of an audience that become nanotechnicians, engineering on scales that are less than the width of a human hair!