Guest Lectures & Debates
Join us for a series of lively talks and interactive discussions with topics ranging from behavioural psychology to astronomy and ludicrous art to the US elections.
Develop a better understanding of issues facing the contemporary world – both nationally and internationally – and engage in informed discussion around our history and contemporary society.
Develop a better understanding of issues facing the contemporary world – both nationally and internationally – and engage in informed discussion around our history and contemporary society.
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Science guest lecture : Professor Matthew Longo: the body in the brain - the psychology and neuroscience of body perception
Course Date: Fri 18 Oct 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetAlthough our own body is perhaps the most familiar of all objects in the world, recent findings have revealed that in many cases the brain appears to maintain remarkably impoverished and distorted body representations.Professor Longo's lecture will explore the mental representation of our body and how this shapes perception.
Matthew Longo is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck, University of London where he directs the Body Representation Laboratory. He is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.
I.Full fee: £15.00Senior fee: £15.00Concession: £15.00 -
Indian nationalism and the British Raj
Course Date: Sat 19 Oct 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetThis day course will deliver an interactive-lecture on the British Raj, Colonial rule and the impact this had on Indian nationalism. Tutor: James Chiriyankandath.Full fee: £59.00Senior fee: £47.00Concession: £30.00 -
Psyched! An interactive science evening in collaboration with Birkbeck, University of London, Department of Psychological Sciences: the role of disgust
Course Date: Thu 24 Oct 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetPsyched! - an insider’s look at how the brain works and how evolution affects the way you think, feel and behave.
How can the sound of someone being sick make you gag – yet a painting with gory wounds and severed limbs can appear beautiful? In the run up to Halloween, come and have some fun being disgusted at Psyched! Delivered in partnership with Birkbeck, University of London, Department of Psychological Sciences.Full fee: £9.00Senior fee: £9.00Concession: £9.00 -
What is history?
Course Date: Sun 27 Oct 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetThis course explores some different ways of looking at, and understanding, history.Full fee: £39.00Senior fee: £31.00Concession: £20.00 -
The French nation and Napoleon
Course Date: Mon 28 Oct 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetNapoleon had a huge impact on the French state and the French nation and many of his ideas and reforms were also adopted across Europe as a result of the French empire which Napoleon founded. Some of these developments were due to Napoleon himself and others emerged because of the systems he set up and the people he employed. Many of the changes he initiated have had long term effects which can be seen up until the current day. The course will examine some of these developments. Tutor: Gregor Davey.Full fee: £89.00Senior fee: £89.00Concession: £39.00 -
The politics of austerity
Course Date: Fri 1 Nov 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetNine years of austerity has changed Britain. We ask questions such as why are 21% of UK citizens living poverty? We will discuss the need for austerity: political choice or economic necessity?Full fee: £89.00Senior fee: £71.00Concession: £39.00 -
History and memory across the world
Course Date: Mon 4 Nov 2019
Location on this date: International HouseTypically, the past is often seen as ‘gone’, ‘a long time ago’ or even irrelevant. In contrast, this course promotes the idea that the past has a much stronger influence on how we—as individuals, families, communities, societies and in states as collective actors in international politics—think about not only the present but also the future.Full fee: £79.00Senior fee: £79.00Concession: £35.00 -
Current affairs: global issues, activism and protest
Course Date: Sat 16 Nov 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetIn this course, we will explore and discuss social movements, activist projects and protests engaged in the following global issues: Migration, Modern Slavery, Human Rights violations, Inequalities, and Climate Change.Full fee: £39.00Senior fee: £31.00Concession: £20.00 -
The politics and society of contemporary India
Course Date: Sun 17 Nov 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetThe structure of Indian society, its colonial heritage, and the fabric of India's rich cultural history have shaped, and in turn have been shaped by, the politics and economic changes over the centuries - telling the rich story of how contemporary India came to be. We will examine contemporary India through its politics and society in this interactive lecture day-course. Tutor: James Chiriyankandath.Full fee: £39.00Senior fee: £31.00Concession: £20.00 -
Countdown to the 2020 US elections
Course Date: Tue 19 Nov 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetCovering the most important election in recent history, Mark Malcolmson (Principal of City Lit) takes us through America's next electoral cycle. Tutor: Mark Malcomson.Full fee: £39.00Senior fee: £39.00Concession: £17.00 -
Psyched! An interactive science evening in collaboration with Birkbeck, University of London, Department of Psychological Sciences: the development of language
Course Date: Thu 28 Nov 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetPsyched! - an insider’s look at how the brain works and how evolution affects the way you think, feel and behave.
Why did human language take millions of years to emerge, yet babies are born ‘language ready’? Listen to our panel of science experts to learn about how primitive body language still sets the stage for language development. Delivered in partnership with Birkbeck, University of London, Department of Psychological Sciences.Full fee: £9.00Senior fee: £9.00Concession: £9.00 -
The use and abuse of history in 20th century wars and conflicts
Course Date: Sun 1 Dec 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetThis course will investigate the way in which memory and the past is utilised during times of conflict.Full fee: £39.00Senior fee: £31.00Concession: £20.00 -
The presidency of Macron from his election to the Gilets Jaunes
Course Date: Sat 7 Dec 2019
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetOne year before 2017, few believed Macron could become president. Since then his reforms have been both welcome and rejected. At the forefront of the opposition is an unforeseen and unprecedented movement: the Gilets Jaunes. Tutor: Sebastien Ardouin.Full fee: £39.00Senior fee: £31.00Concession: £20.00 -
Science guest lecture: Where physics meets biology: an introduction to current research on the application of biophysics to embryology
Course Date: Thu 30 Jan 2020
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetIt is an ongoing mystery how the complexity of an adult organism arises from a single fertilised egg cell. This problem has been studied extensively by biologists for centuries, and is now an active area of research for physicists as well. The field of biophysics aims to use the mathematical and computational tools of physics to understand how complex living creatures organise themselves. The key idea is that even something as complicated as a whole organism must still obey the laws of physics . In this talk, Max Kerr Winter will discuss various ways in which physics and biology come together. He will focus on his work studying how forces are distributed and organised in the early mouse embryo, in order for the embryo to grow into the correct shape. What insights can this research give us into the development of human embryos?
Max Kerr Winter is a theoretical biophysicist. He researches at the Francis Crick Institute, London, in collaboration with experimental biologists at the University of Cambridge.Full fee: £15.00Senior fee: £15.00Concession: £15.00 -
Political myth, propaganda and fake news
Course Date: Fri 31 Jan 2020
Location on this date: KS - Keeley StreetWhat is a political myth? How do we spot propaganda? How can we tell 'real' news from 'fake news'? In this course we will look at a number of conceptual approaches to these subjects, and then begin to pick-apart a number of examples of each.Full fee: £139.00Senior fee: £111.00Concession: £61.00
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