University Events

Upcoming Virtual Lectures

Upcoming Virtual Lectures

INSIGHTS Public Lectures have moved online. Check this page for details of upcoming events.

Many of our speakers are leaders in their field and all have something of special interest to convey. Our lectures cover a wide range of disciplines and frequently include key contemporary issues, particularly those that affect our daily lives.

Any views expressed by speakers are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Newcastle University.

  • INSIGHTS Revisited: Alnwick, Rothley and Kirkharle – the three Northumberland landscapes of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown by Nick Owen

    This is an online event.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 28 April 2020, 17:30 - 18:30

  • INSIGHTS Revisited: Art history in motion: art museums and their publics in a 2020 world by Maria Balshaw

    This is an online event.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 5 May 2020, 17:30 - 18:30

  • INSIGHTS Virtual Lectures: Allocating scarce resources in a pandemic: ethical reflections by Reverend Bryan Vernon

    This is an online event.

    Date/Time: Thursday 30 April 2020, 17:30 - 18:30

  • INSIGHTS Revisited: Eliminating war in the twenty-first century by Bruce Kent

    This is an online event.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 14 April 2020, 17:30 - 18:30

  • Holmes Lectures for 10- to 14-year-olds: Seeing inside the body with radioactivity (The inside story of our body and mind)

    Gemma Roberts, Newcastle University

    Date/Time: Wednesday 22 January 2020, 17:00 - 18:00

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Holmes Lectures for 10- to 14-year-olds: Looking at the brain in pain (The inside story of our body and mind)

    Dr Quoc Vuong, Newcastle University

    Date/Time: Wednesday 15 January 2020, 17:00 - 18:00

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Lecture 2: The quality of mercy is strained (Riddell Lectures - Good news in an age of fake news? The place of mercy in a post-truth society)

    Lucy Winkett. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 24 October 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Smart Cities: fact or fiction?

    Professor Philip James. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 19 November 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • The Blair Government Reconsidered

    Dr Jon Davis. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 14 May 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Our lives with algorithms

    Professor Louise Amoore. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 9 May 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • The Making of the British Landscape (Tyneside Geographical Society Lecture)

    Nicholas Crane. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 28 March 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Plant diversity is under threat: why should we care and what can we do?

    Professor William Willats. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 19 March 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • ELEMENTS: The elements of colour (Holmes Lectures for 10- to 14-year olds)

    Free admission, pre-booking required. To book your free spaces please contact: public.lectures@ncl.ac.uk or telephone: 0191 208 6093

    Date/Time: Wednesday 23 January 2019, 17.00 - 18.00

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • ELEMENTS: The elements of health (Holmes Lectures for 10- to 14-year olds)

    Free admission, pre-booking required. To book your free spaces please contact: public.lectures@ncl.ac.uk or telephone: 0191 208 6093

    Date/Time: Wednesday 16 January 2019, 17.00 - 18.00

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Santa, sprouts and angels: the popular imagery of Christmas

    Dr Gail-Nina Anderson. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 13 December 2018, 17.30 - 18.45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Food, fuel, fibre, flowers or fun: what do we want from land and can we achieve it? (Cameron-Gifford Lecture)

    Emeritus Professor Chris Pollock. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 11 December 2018, 17.30 - 18.45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Was there ever an American Empire?

    Professor Antony Hopkins. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 6 December 2018, 17.30 - 18.45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • CSI Richard III

    Professor Sarah Hainsworth. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 8 March 2018, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • How Good We Can Be: ending the mercenary society and building a great country

    Will Hutton. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 22 May 2018, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • We are London – creating a museum for and of our time

    Sharon Ament. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 15 March 2018, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • We need to talk about Nigel (Jacobson Lecture)

    Professor Sir Simon Wessely. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 27 February 2018, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • The windows to the soul? - Animal vision (Holmes Lectures for 10- to 14-year-olds)

    Vision Researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience. To register for free places, please e-mail the Public Lectures office: public.lectures@ncl.ac.uk, or telephone: 0191 208 6093

    Date/Time: Wednesday 17 January 2018, 17:00 - 18:00

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Democracy in crisis? The majority vote and populism

    Olivier Christin. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 5 October 2017, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • A composer’s personal reflections on the impact of religious, social and aesthetic influences on music

    Sir James MacMillan. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Wednesday 22 November 2017, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Music, modernity and the search for the sacred (Riddell Memorial Lectures)

    Sir James MacMillan. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 21 November 2017, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Facing adversity with a smile (Fickling Lecture)

    Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 3 October 2017, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • The windows to the soul? - Human vision (Holmes Lectures for 10- to 14-year-olds)

    Vision Researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience. To register for free places, please e-mail the Public Lectures office: public.lectures@ncl.ac.uk, or telephone: 0191 208 6093

    Date/Time: Wednesday 24 January 2018, 17:00 - 18:00

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived (in association with the North East Humanists)

    Dr Adam Rutherford. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 19 October 2017, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • CANCELLED: Rethinking public value

    Please note this event has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

    Date/Time: Thursday 27 April 2017, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Mind the gap – tackling oral health inequalities (Founders & Benefactors Lecture)

    Professor Richard Watt. Free and open to all. To register please e-mail: magdalena.grainger@ncl.ac.uk or telephone 0191 208 7898.

    Date/Time: Friday 16 June 2017, 16:30 - 18:00

    Venue: RB Green Lecture Theatre, Medical School, Newcastle University

  • Innovation: opportunities, academia and changing the ecosystem (Grey Turner Lecture)

    Shaf Keshavjee MD, James Wallace McCutcheon Chair in Surgery. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Wednesday 28 June 2017, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: David Shaw Lecture Theatre, Medical School, Newcastle University

  • Technologies for bee health

    Mike Brown, Animal and Plant Health Agency. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 7 March 2017, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University