University Events

Upcoming Lectures

Upcoming Lectures

All lectures are free and open to all, with spaces allocated on a first-come first-served basis on arrival. For more popular talks an overspill room will be in operation.

For details of upcoming lectures in the Insights Public Lectures programme, see below or download our brochure INSIGHTS Public Lectures October 2019 - January 2020 (PDF: 1.8MB)

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.

  • Jack Jeffery Lecture on Environment and Sustainability

    Date/Time: Thursday 31 October 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • British Women in the Liberation of Frederick Douglass (Black History Month Lecture)

    Professor Leigh Fought. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 15 October 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Three tales from the biomedical frontier

    Date/Time: Thursday 21 November 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

  • Holmes Lectures: Looking at the brain in pain (The inside story of our body and mind)

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

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

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Holmes Lectures: Seeing inside the body with radioactivity (The inside story of our body and mind)

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

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

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Is fixing infrastructure in the London global city-region undermining the rest of the UK?

    Professor Andy Pike. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 5 December 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Celebrating Student Research Scholarships and Expeditions 2019

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

    Date/Time: Wednesday 4 December 2019, 17:30 - 19:00

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Understanding stem cells (Jacobson Lecture)

    Professor Fiona Watt. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

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

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Finding Ralph Tailor (Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne Lecture)

    Professor Keith Wrightson. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Wednesday 27 November 2019, 18:00 - 19:15

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Can meaningful hope spring from revealing the depth of our climate failure?

    Professor Kevin Anderson. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 14 November 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • The Crisis of the Meritocracy: how popular demand (not politicians) made Britain into a mass education society

    Professor Peter Mandler. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Thursday 7 November 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Charlton Memorial Lecture

    Dr Maria Balshaw. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Wednesday 6 November 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • What do you see? Frames of perception, Claudia Rankine and Serena Williams (Philosophical Society Lecture)

    Dr Tina Chanter. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 29 October 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • 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

  • Mercy and truth are met together (Riddell Memorial 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: Wednesday 23 October 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • The History of Dirt in West Africa

    Professor Steph Newell. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 8 October 2019, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Henry Miller Memorial Concert

    Sarah Beth Briggs (piano). Please note this event is free but pre-booking is required.

    Date/Time: Sunday 17 March 2019, 16:00 - 17:30

    Venue: King's Hall, Armstrong Building, Newcastle University

  • *POSTPONED* Martin Luther King Memorial Lecture

    Please note this event has been *postponed*. We are looking to reschedule the talk for later in the year. Please accept our apologies for any disappointment and inconvenience caused.

    Date/Time: Thursday 7 February 2019, 18:30 - 20:00

    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

  • Fish oils and brain health: what dose does what in whom? (Albert Latner Lecture in Clinical Biochemistry)

    Professor Anne-Marie Minihane. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 12 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

  • ** CANCELLED ** Dying to be free: African-American suffering and death during the American Civil War (Black History Month Lecture)

    Please note this lecture has been cancelled due to unforseen circumstances, apologies for any inconvenience caused.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 9 October 2018, 17.30 - 18.45pm

    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

  • Brexit two years on: the politics and economics of a protracted divorce

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

    Date/Time: Wednesday 27 June 2018, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • British Defence Policy and Brexit – time to consider Britain’s place in the world? (Defence Lecture)

    The Rt Hon the Lord Hutton of Furness. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: Tuesday 13 March 2018, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Henry Miller Concert 2018

    Date/Time: Sunday 11 March 2018, 16:00 - 18:00

    Venue: King's Hall, Armstrong Building

  • *LECTURE POSTPONED* Engendering the city we need? Overcoming the barriers

    Emeritus Professor Marion Roberts.

    Date/Time: Thursday 1 March 2018, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • LECTURE POSTPONED: Brexit and populism: a sociological perspective

    Please note this event has been postponed, a new date will be announced shortly. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

    Date/Time: Thursday 22 February 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

  • BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead

    Admission is free but ticketed: to book visit www.sagegateshead.com or call 0191 443 4661 from 2 February.

    Date/Time: Sunday 11 March 2018, 11:30 - 12:30

    Venue: The Sage Gateshead

  • 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

  • Medicine 20 years ahead: where we are winning, where we are not (Jacobson Lecture)

    Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department of Health. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: 24th November 2016, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Should the NHS pay for obesity surgery? (Rutherford Morrison Lecture)

    Professor David Kerrigan, Bariatric Surgeon, Phoenix Health and University of Chester. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: 25th October 2016, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Our Dynamic Earth: Where on Earth are We? – an Introduction to Geomatics

    Delivered by staff from Newcastle University’s Geosciences and Geomatics Research Groups.

    Date/Time: 26th January 2017, 17:00 - 18:00

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Our Dynamic Earth: Third Rock from the Sun – an Introduction to Earth Science

    Delivered by staff from Newcastle University’s Geosciences and Geomatics Research Groups.

    Date/Time: 19th January 2017, 17:00 - 18:00

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Human struggle and hope – Christian and Muslim perspectives

    Mona Siddiqui, OBE. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis. 

    Date/Time: 1st November 2016, 17:30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

  • Eyes: windows to the soul and mind control

    Professor Gwyneth Doherty-Sneddon, Head of the School of Psychology, Newcastle University. Free admission, all seats allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

    Date/Time: 18th October 2016, 17.30 - 18:45

    Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University