Open lectures: Spring term 2022
Every term, 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
There are no events to show here right now. Please check back another time.
Past events
During the two years of the Coronavirus pandemic, many comparisons have been drawn between the experience of living through Covid and living through the Second World War...
Joel Krueger discusses how chatbots might play a useful role within a broader repertoire of grieving practices.
Nan Sloane brings to light the stories from the women who were supposed to leave politics to men but instead they spoke, wrote, marched, organised, asked questions, challenged power structures, sometimes went to prison and even died.
Join Leena Dhingra (author and actor) as she discusses ‘Hope’ in the context of the ‘Imagination’.
This lecture will explore the ethos of biology to benefit society: from lifesaving medicines, to new products and crops, and addressing waste and pollution.
Lucy O'Brien talks about the act of laughing at others' missteps or failures, and considers how we should think about such acts.
A series of talks from women working in the field of computer science.
Who makes the decisions during labour and birth and how do they do it?
The Computer Science Department host a one day symposium on recent research in human computer interaction (HCI) and user experience (UX).
Iain Bate explains why the time events in computer systems can be important and how, over time, we have to rethink our approach to timing and system assurance
Placing our histories is always key to understanding the past. But what happens if we focus in at the smallest scale: on a specific street or square, a doorway, tree or vantage-point – a microplace?
Follow Mark as he walks you through a physical building showing you how to sustainable optimise buildings in ways we cannot possibly imagine right now.
Dr Shane O'Rourke talks about the Ukraine crisis from a historian's perspective.
Human rights and environmental lawyer Mónica López Baltodano and film-maker Khristine Gillard, will discuss the civic struggle against the construction of the Grand Interoceanic Canal in Nicaragua.
Join Tabish Khair (author) as he discusses ‘Hope’ and the ‘Imagination’.
A discussion about global trade and supply and the blockage of the Suez Canal with Evergiven.
Join us for our Physics Winter Webinar as we explore cutting-edge quantum technologies.
This seminar investigates how patients and clinicians have had to collaboratively establish the patient’s proprioception via video since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now that the psychedelic renaissance has found its way out of the birth canal and enters its childhood there is an ever-increasing need for psychedelic psychotherapy, integration, sitting, welfare and aftercare.
Join Claire Chambers (York) and author Oana Aristide as they discuss Oana’s new novel ‘Under the Blue’, drawing on themes of pandemics, climate change and ‘Hope’.
Abdul Kalam Azad, Maureen Grant and Jacqui McKenzie in conversation with people working on the Windrush cases.
Find out more about the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which will be the world's largest offshore wind farm when completed in 2026, generating enough renewable energy for 6 million UK homes.
Dr Goodwin gives an update on the potential therapeutic value of regular and low doses of psychedelics in the treatment of psychopathologies.
Join the Bridge Society for a Bridge masterclass with Phil Godfrey - English National Pairs winner!
In commemoration of LGBTQ History Month, York Politics Society warmly welcomes you to an event with Newcastle University lecturer Paul Attinello, on the political psychology of the AIDS crisis.
How to queer International Development? What are queer critiques of developments?
Michael White discusses Duchamp's submission of a urinal to an exhibition and the subsequent questions of obscenity and infringement of intellectual property rights
A discussion about how attitudes toward same-sex marriage in the US have shifted quickly over the last few decades.
This talk will discuss recent results from the Compass P-TRD trial (psilocybin therapy for treatment resistant depression)
How much do you know about climate change and social justice? Try our quiz in this Carbon Literacy taster session.
Exploring how to shift from global to local through inspiring localisation stories & discussion of the emerging localisation movement
What if we could use the concept of the circular economy to ensure that the wastes from one part of a city could be used in another part?
In this session we explore the future of entrepreneurial support and how you can use the insights from the ever-growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in your business to really drive success.
Why is the Bioeconomy an important economic opportunity for the Yorkshire region? Find out how the Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC) is working with local businesses to develop novel bio-based products to make this opportunity a reality.
Join our discussion about the University's new Sustainability Plan
A discussion on the range of habitats, plant and wildlife to be found on campus and how it is managed to promote and increase biodiversity.
Imagine a workplace with no bosses, where everyone has equal pay and an equal say.
Dr Sara de Jong sheds light on the situation of the people in Afghanistan that the West left behind.
Join us for our Physics Winter Webinar exploring the fundamental particle, the strange quark: from strange matter in neutron stars to new, cutting-edge experiments here on Earth.
While the legal notables of interwar Scotland viewed male homosexual sex work as ‘plumbing the depths’ of moral turpitude, the lives of the young men who sold sex on the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh were much more human, complex and colourful...
Historian Greg Jenner bounces through a wide range of subjects – from ancient jokebooks, African empires, and bizarre tales of medicinal cannibalism, to the invention of meringues, mirrors, and menstrual pads.
George’s talk will cover carbon capture technology in general, with some insights into C-Capture’s technology
What can we learn about the relationship between film costume, and the historical study of emotions between the 1930s and 1950s?
Critics and artists from across the Faculty of Arts and Humanities will present short talks and musical turns on some aspects of James Joyce's Ulysses
This masterclass will explore some of the reasons for the dominance of particular approaches; examples of diverse emerging and existing models along with barriers to their success and scaling; and address the implications for teaching and research.
Dan Hicks outlines some of the arguments in his recent book, and will consider the significance African cultural restitution for the discipline of Art History in the 2020s
Queer critiques of linear narratives of ‘progress’ succinctly capture the difficulty of imagining new or more liberatory futures, particularly when these futures are conceived through lenses of the present...
Join us as we commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day with a special online event featuring talks and short films reflecting on the Holocaust and the 2022 national theme, One Day.
This event is the second for our 'Hope and Social Change' Symposium Series, as part of the Interdisciplinary York Hope Consortium.
Experts discuss how the ethics of care have (re)emerged at the heart of visions for societal transformation
Join Adam Phillips, writer and psychoanalyst, as he talks about second chances
Cara Jardine discusses the boundary between the prison in the community - and how this might be traversed, permeated or negotiated
Dr Caitlin Hutchison discusses various interpretations of the Irish high cross
Madeline-Sophie Abbas draws out some key insights from her recent book, Terror and the Dynamism of Islamophobia in 21st Century Britain.
In the talk we will explore what psilocybin is, the thinking behind psychotherapy and how psilocybin is being used in the field to treat and help depression and even cancer related distress.
Dr Vic Clarke and Dr Kevin Jones will talk about their work identifying offensive and biased language in archive catalogues
A discussion on moral stress in veterinary teams
Join us for our Physics Winter Webinar as we explore how the conditions inside stars can be created in the laboratory using high power lasers.