Public lectures: Autumn term 2016

The Coal Authority: Managing the legacy of coal mining

Thursday 8 December 2016

The talk aims to provide a brief overview of what the Coal Authority is and the role it performs.

William Holman Hunt: Pre-Raphaelite and Orientalist

Thursday 1 December 2016

This talk will explore how Hunt’s commitment to visual truth led him to become the most important and original British artistic interpreter of Palestine during the age of Imperialism

POSTPONED What on earth does the past of Eastern Africa tell us about future sustainability?

Thursday 1 December 2016

This talk has been postponed and will now be held in Spring term.

Prophets of Progress? Predicting the Future of Science and Technology from H. G. Wells to Isaac Asimov

Wednesday 30 November 2016

The first half of the twentieth century saw the emergence of science fiction as a recognised genre, but popular science writers also sought to imagine what the next developments would be, especially in areas with immediate practical applications...

Surviving the Anthropocene: A story of biological gains as well as losses

Wednesday 30 November 2016

Professor Chris Thomas presents a York Biology Lecture

Sustainability dilemmas: Short-term political expediency versus long-term planetary exigency

Tuesday 29 November 2016

What can be done to encourage politicians, business people and civil society leaders to develop longer-term policy and institutional responses to climate change?

Conservatism and liberalism

Tuesday 29 November 2016

In this lecture Andy Hamilton will argue that liberalism and Burkean conservatism lie on a continuum, and that they are analogous in having rationalist and pragmatic forms, the latter represented by Mill

Medieval mysticism and the universe in a hazelnut

Friday 25 November 2016

Janina Ramirez, Oxford Art Historian, BBC Broadcaster and Honorary Fellow at the Department for History of Art at York, will explore a world of Medieval English Christian mysticism

The Cult of the Book

Thursday 24 November 2016

Professor Brian Cummings of the Department of English and Related Literature will re-examine 400 years of the relationship between the worship of idols and the worship of books, and the way we view books both as ‘things’ and as visual signs. This event is the Inaugural Lecture of the Friends of the University of York Library and Archives, our supporters circle launched in June this year.

Where stands the Scottish country house in 2016?

Thursday 24 November 2016

How and why are Scottish country houses framed – intellectually, socially, economically and politically – and how has this picture evolved?

Conversion Hysteria 4: Believe It Or Not

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Adam Phillips is a psychoanalyst and has been Visiting Professor in the Department of English and Related Literature since 2006. He is the General Editor of the Penguin Freud, and author of more than 16 books of essays and studies from On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored (1993) to Becoming Freud: The Making of a Psychoanalyst (2014)

CANCELLED Classed lifeworlds of young graduates

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Due to unforeseen circumstances this seminar has been cancelled. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Planet and the public: Communicating geo-environmental science to non-technical audiences

Tuesday 22 November 2016

This talk will draw from a decade of putting Earth science 'on the box' to explore a number of questions. How can we best use the entertainment industry to convey 'sound science'? What are the communication barriers that need to be overcome? And also, given the emerging research 'impact' agenda, what are the costs and benefits of early career geo-environmental scientists 'going public'?

Two years after the Umbrella Movement: Exploring the social consequences of political participation

Tuesday 22 November 2016

This presentation focuses on exploring both the politics of the personal and the personal consequences of politics, particularly how campaigning for democratisation of society might have an impact on the democratisation of family relationships

PUBlic Seminar

Monday 21 November 2016

The University of York produces a huge range of research spanning from Nuclear Fusion to Facial Recognition. The PUBlic Seminar gives PhD students and Post-Docs from the Faculty of Science an excellent opportunity to share their passion and expertise with a public audience over a drink in a local pub

Exploration, Orientalism and revival: The European discovery of Egypt’s Islamic heritage

Thursday 17 November 2016

The second lecture in the series from the York Islamic Art Circle

Peacebuilding in a turbulent world

Thursday 17 November 2016

Due to unforeseen circumstances this lecture is now cancelled. Apologies for any disappointment caused.

'THB state-funded faith schools should be banned'

Thursday 17 November 2016

York Union's final event of the Autumn term focuses on debate around the subject of faith schools

On cartoons, corruption and censorship - in conversation with Aseem Trivedi

Thursday 17 November 2016

Indian cartoonist and human rights defender Aseem Trivedi will be interviewed about his work by the York Press chief feature writer Stephen Lewis

POSTPONED On hip hop, race and politics: The way we talk about things

Wednesday 16 November 2016

In this talk, US socio-political pundit Jay Smooth, popular vlogger behind "The Ill Doctrine," discusses everything from present day politics and social justice to music, media, and culture

Ecological aesthetics

Wednesday 16 November 2016

In this lecture Alistair Hudson will argue for a rethinking of aesthetics as a universal system of transformation, which permeates and shapes all aspects of our daily lives; in politics, economics, culture and society

Only connect: From green spaces to green infrastructure

Wednesday 16 November 2016

Writer and public policy analyst Ken Worpole talks about 'green infrastructure'

The importance of talking to YOU about complex environmental issues: Insights from research with the public on nuclear power, low carbon transitions and climate engineering

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Dr Karen Parkhill presents the second lecture in the York Environment lecture series

Nuclear physics out of the lab

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Physsoc's last public lecture for the autumn term will be delivered by Professor David Jenkins and will discuss the topic of Nuclear Physics

POSTPONED Breaking the Cycle with Leyla Hussein

Tuesday 15 November 2016

York Union present a hard-hitting talk on female genital mutilation (FGM) and how we break the cycle

Understanding the Global Citizen, c.1200-c.1600

Tuesday 15 November 2016

This lecture aims to contribute to answering the puzzling question of how decentralised societies were able to lay the groundwork for globalisation of European history and the European globalisation of the world

Unmaking citizens: Racial exclusions and the privilege of a passport

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Nisha Kapoor is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of York. She currently leads an ESRC funded research project titled ‘Deport Deprive Extradite’ which explores race, citizenship and the state in the context of the War on Terror

Miners Shot Down

Monday 14 November 2016

Film-screening of Miners Shot Down and Q and A with the film's director, Rehad Desai.

Policing and security in a post-Brexit world

Friday 11 November 2016

Keir Starmer QC MP, British politician and barrister, will be giving the inaugural North Yorkshire Police lecture.

Milner-White and all that: The restoration of York Minster's windows c.1750-c.1950 and its implications for the modern conservator

Friday 11 November 2016

York Minster preserves the largest and most diverse collection of stained glass in Britain. It is a collection that has survived religious Reformation and iconoclasm, Civil War and two major fires. It also bears the marks of centuries of restoration and repair, some of it skillful and caring, some of it ignorant and careless

Maintaining a Free Press for Somalia

Friday 11 November 2016

Mahad Omad Diriye is a Somali radio journalist working in Kenya, trying to improve the human rights situation for Somali media workers in exile.

The Foss barrier, what happened and what can we learn

Thursday 10 November 2016

On the evening of 26 December 2015 the Foss barrier was lifted during one of the most severe floods in York. Over 600 properties and businesses were flooded as well as the inner ring road, telephone exchange and other key infrastructure. This presentation summarises the events leading up to that tragic night and the recovery that has happened since

Nurse, midwife, civil servant: A personal perspective

Wednesday 9 November 2016

In this lecture David Foster will reflect on his career as a nurse, midwife and most recently a civil servant

No place like home: Irish writing in a changing world

Wednesday 9 November 2016

Fintan O'Toole discusses Irish writing

The Archers: An every day story of... the real world? Domestic abuse in Ambridge and beyond

Wednesday 9 November 2016

Judith Buchanan talks to Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Women's Aid

"Architecture Cures Cancer", But can it Cure Crime? The Architecture of Incarceration and the Architecture of Hope

Wednesday 9 November 2016

Is the concept of a ‘healthy prison’ an oxymoron, or even a desirable goal?

Blizzards of steel: Viking poetry and the battles of Fulford and Stamford Bridge

Tuesday 8 November 2016

This lecture will commemorate two local battles and introduce and explore the unfamiliar genre of Old Norse court poetry – a form of literature that enables us to get closer than any other to the cultural world of Viking Age kings and their followers

Protecting ocean life in an era of rapid global change

Tuesday 8 November 2016

How do we protect marine species when we don’t know where they are or even that they exist? How do we protect life in a realm that is hostile to most of the conservation methods used on land? In this talk, drawing on thirty years’ experience studying the sea and its protection, and working with governments and international bodies, Callum Roberts will try to answer these questions.

Cold and trapped: Using lasers to approach absolute zero

Tuesday 8 November 2016

We are joined by Dr Andrew Pratt from the Physics Department, where he will explain how lasers can be used to cool objects - something not usually associated with them

Indian classical music: A way of life

Monday 7 November 2016

Indian classical musician, Amjad Ali Khan, will talk about his life and music

The forming of gesture: Notes on Luca Signorelli and Frans van Mieris

Monday 7 November 2016

The aim of this lecture is to trace the points of intersection and separation between these two conceptions of gestures within the context created by two paintings: Luca Signorelli Comunione degli Apostoli and Frans van Mieris The Letter Writer.

Are there standards in art criticism?

Thursday 3 November 2016

Mr Andrew Wards talks about standards in art criticism

Stillness: Thinking through critical migration studies and challenging citizenship

Tuesday 1 November 2016

In the second of this term's Social and Political Sciences seminars Dr Heather Johnson will talk about the responses to migration in Kos

Rosenberg's war: "Iron, honey, gold"

Friday 28 October 2016

In her lecture, Jean Liddiard will draw out the relationship between Rosenberg's poems and his comments on them in his letters. She will refer to Leavis's experiences during the First World War and discuss his admiration for Rosenberg and that of his student and later colleague on the board of Scrutiny, DW Harding, one of Rosenberg’s early editors.

Environmental conflicts, extractive industries and human rights in Colombia

Friday 28 October 2016

In her talk, Johana will discuss the work of Tierra Digna in the defense of environmental rights in Colombia.

Experiencing art

Thursday 27 October 2016

Rev Dr David Efird will talk about art

Life After Leveson: What has changed for the British press?

Thursday 27 October 2016

Matt Tee, Chief Executive of IPSO, talks about the impact the Leveson Report has had on the British press

Organometallic anticancer drugs with novel modes of action

Thursday 27 October 2016

Many types of cancer are now treated quite effectively by drugs that are increasingly designed and made on the basis of sound knowledge of their mode of action. Nonetheless, there are very many different types of cancer and despite these advances, there are some tumours that remain difficult to treat.

Factory of the Future - Industry 4.0

Thursday 27 October 2016

Are we on the cusp of a fourth industrial revolution - driven by 'embedded' or 'cyber physical' systems interacting intelligently? What does this mean for UK productivity and growth? How will technologies change the way we do business? Are we about to witness a period of advanced reindustrialisation?

The Visual Politics of the WHO in Historical Perspective (1949-1974)

Wednesday 26 October 2016

This lecture investigates the visual politics of the World Health Organisation from its inception to the early 1970s

Couple Relationship, Family Management and the Workplace

Wednesday 26 October 2016

In her research Dr Gerlinde Mauerer has analysed the work-life-balance of fathers on parental leave and their female partners, as well as the insights of personal managers on paternal leave practices and career opportunities of part-time employees in Austria

Newton and Universal Gravitation: The story of the apple

Tuesday 25 October 2016

New students in the Physics department are welcomed to the University with a talk about the apple tree growing in the department's courtyard. An apple tree with a remarkable history. We finally have the opportunity to share this fascinating story to the public

Life after encephalitis

Tuesday 25 October 2016

The personal and often devastating experiences of living with an acquired brain injury will be brought vividly to life by Dr Ava Easton, the author of Life after Encephalitis

Howling at the moon: Werewolves in western culture

Monday 24 October 2016

This lecture examines the folklore origins of werewolves and their role in legend

Haeckel’s embryos: Images, evolution and fraud

Thursday 20 October 2016

Dr Nick Hopwood discusses Ernst Haeckel's embryo drawings - are they fraud?

Physics Review: 25th Anniversary Celebration

Wednesday 19 October 2016

Join Physics Review magazine to celebrate their 25th Anniversary with an exciting lecture from Professor Tim Spiller on quantum communication technologies

Urban Inequalities: Social Distance and Spatial Division

Wednesday 19 October 2016

What are the social and spatial implications of deepening economic inequality in cities? Why does economic disparity matter for the social life and spatial form of cities, and what is distinctive about contemporary patterns of urban inequality?

The Black Prince of Florence: A Medici Mystery

Tuesday 18 October 2016

Catherine Fletcher presents York's Black History Month lecture

The Big Drugs Debate

Tuesday 18 October 2016

Join York Union to debate the issues around drug use and control

Integrity, hypocrisy and the corruption of the 'ideal standard'

Tuesday 18 October 2016

One of the difficulties one comes up against when considering the concept of integrity, is the unliveability of the lives of moral exemplars. If we don’t want to give up all our worldly belongings, leave our families, eschew pleasure and comfort, or go and fight in the resistance, does that leave us compromised and corrupted?

GeekFest 2016 - Free Sunday talks

Sunday 16 October 2016

GeekFest, York's best pop-culture & comic convention, is back! And it's going to be bigger and better! Open to everyone, and held at the University, it's going to be a great weekend with Artists, Dealers, Special Guests and more.

GeekFest 2016 - Free Saturday talks

Saturday 15 October 2016

GeekFest, York's best pop-culture & comic convention, is back! And it's going to be bigger and better! Open to everyone, and held at the University of York, it's going to be a great weekend with Artists, Dealers, Special Guests and more

The beauty of ruins

Thursday 13 October 2016

This talk will offer some informal reflections on the aesthetic interest of ruins

Penthouse and Pavement: Inequality in the 21st Century

Thursday 13 October 2016

Inequality is fast becoming the defining feature of our time. Professor Richard Wilkinson will highlight how more equal societies have better health and fewer social problems.

Challenging stereotypes of ‘science’ and ‘belief’: STEM as cultural identity in a pluralist world?

Thursday 13 October 2016

Fern Elsdon-Baker looks at the public perceptions of the relationship between science and faith

Story-telling in the Great Mongol Shahnama

Thursday 13 October 2016

The launch event, Storytelling in the Great Mongol Shahnama, will see Professor Robert Hillenbrand, author of ten books on Islamic architecture and painting, speak on the Shahnama – the national epic of Iran

Conversion and convergence: The Goddess Mazu and the Virgin Mary in global maritime history

Wednesday 12 October 2016

This lecture will explore perils at sea, and how and why seafarers prayed to two female figures who represented saviours in the oceans of the early modern world

Universities, Democracy and Public Sociology; The Challenge of the Neo-Liberal Knowledge Regime

Wednesday 12 October 2016

This talk will set out the key elements of the neo-liberal knowledge regime that is being brought to completion by the Government’s recent Higher Education and Research Bill

Antibiotics and resistance and you

Wednesday 12 October 2016

The first of this term's York Biology Lectures

Moral illusions: What are they and why should we care?

Tuesday 11 October 2016

In this lecture, Rafe will discuss the curious phenomenon of moral illusions and explain what they tell us about moral thinking

The application of evolutionary computation to the diagnosis and monitoring of Parkinson's disease

Thursday 6 October 2016

Dr Stephen Smith presents the York Society of Engineers Open Lecture

The criminal brain: Implications for prevention, protection and punishment

Thursday 6 October 2016

Adrian Raine discusses the thorny ethical questions that society can no longer ignore as science increasingly dissects the biological roots of crime

Paintings and photographs

Thursday 6 October 2016

Gregory Currie discusses the differences between paintings and photographs and how an audience might be affected differently by each type of media

Defending Human Rights Defenders: Shrinking space for human rights and civil society

Wednesday 5 October 2016

The Centre for Applied Human Rights present a talk on human rights defenders

Critical Emotional Reflexivity in Social Activism

Wednesday 5 October 2016

Examining how (rather than why) everyday people become social activists provides insights into the emotionality of not only the personal process, but of bringing about social change

Fusion Energy – promises, progress and prospects

Tuesday 4 October 2016

An insight into the physics of fusion power from the Professor Kieran Gibson