Open Lectures at the University of York

Archbishop Wulfstan and the Peace of God

This lecture takes a new look at the preaching of Archbishop Wulfstan of York and sets it in the context of the contemporary continental movement, the Peace of God

Caliphs, Popes and Gold: Money and long-distance connections in the Early Middle Ages

This talk looks at how money created a series of cultural interconnections which bound Anglo-Saxon England to the rest of mainland Europe and, ultimately, to the Muslim world

Advanced neuroimaging of pain, analgesia and anaesthesia induced altered states of consciousness

A stimulating and enlightening lecture on how the human brain responds to pain, pain relief and anaesthesia

Addressing the commercial determinants of health: David versus Goliath?

The rise in childhood and adult obesity is inequitable and avoidable; it urgently needs to be arrested and then reversed...

Public faith and the everyday ethics of urban life

This lecture explores conservative evangelicals’ everyday efforts to ‘go public’ with their faith – including their countercultural teachings on gender, sexuality, and other religions – and how their efforts are shaped by their sense of themselves as a persecuted minority in a secular city

Education and social justice: Investigating gender-based violence and social mobility

Professor Paul Wakeling and Professor Vanita Sundaram talk about social mobility and sexual harassment in education

Liminal landscapes: People and place in the work of Winifred Holtby and Philip Larkin

This lecture will explore some of the ways in which Winifred Holtby and Philip Larkin drew upon the landscape of Holderness to explore themes of identity in terms of the relationship between people and place.

‘My Dearest Tussy’: Coping with separation during the Napoleonic Wars

Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies present a talk on separation during the Napoleonic Wars

Getting romantic at the movies: An old look at a new art

Romanticism and the movies make unlikely bedfellows: the former is outmoded and focused on the individuality of the artist; the latter are both recent and completely collaborative. In this lecture, Rafe shows why the unlikely couple might nonetheless be a match made in heaven

Just Genomes?

Does the study of human genetic variation reignite scientific racism?

Playhouses in Shakespeare’s time: why ‘play’? why ‘house’?

As York celebrates the coming of the Rose playhouse to the city, this free pre-show talk asks what ‘playhouse’ really means and how this affects our understanding of Shakespeare