Archived Events

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An impassioned rallying cry for us to start talking frankly and openly about death in this new age of ageing.

In person | Virtual event

A passionate, poetic manifesto for urgent rebellion is also a paean to the deep and extraordinary beauty of the natural world from Jay Griffiths the author of Wild.

In person | Virtual event

In this talk to mark the launch of Inventing Secularism, the first modern biography of Holyoake, author Ray Argyle will describe how Holyoake's life helped shaped the modern world. He will also explain how Holyoake's vision rings with renewed clarity at a time when secularism is under siege worldwide.

In person | Virtual event

How did a collective of self-taught internet sleuths end up solving some of the biggest crimes of our time? Bellingcat is what the world needs right now – an intelligence agency by the people, for the people.

In person | Virtual event

As borders multiply, so too must campaigns of resistance. From 'Detained Voices' to acts of cross-border solidarity, people are fighting back to break down borders and standing up for everyone's right to belong.

In person | Virtual event

In the future, how many identities will you have? How many do you want? From surveillance and identity hacking to social media and our legacies beyond the grave, Tracey Follows presents a fascinating and urgent exploration of what personal identity will mean for all of us in the coming decades.

In person | Virtual event

Forty years of feminism and still women do the majority of the housework. Why? Sally Howard investi-gates how we got here and what the future could look like for feminism’s final frontier: the domestic la-bour gap.

In person | Virtual event

In 2020 we saw clearer than ever that Black people are still fighting for the right to not the colour of their skin. In the words of Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, “there is no freedom without rights and no rights with-out the freedom to exercise those rights.”

In person | Virtual event

Love-locks is are new custom, demonstrating love and devotion with a padlock attached to a public space, often a bridge or other landmark. They are everywhere: Paris and Taiwan; New York and Seoul; Melbourne and Moscow; London and Westcliff on Sea. Ceri Houlbrook explores the worldwide popu-larity of the love-lock as a ritual token of love and commitment by considering its history, symbolism, and heritage.

In person | Virtual event

We are increasingly putting our lives in the hands of machine learning. From the AI program which cheats at computer games to the sexist algorithm behind Google Translate, Brian Christian explains how, as AI develops, we rapidly approach a collision between artificial intelligence and ethics.

In person | Virtual event

Professor of Technology Sarah Williams outlines how to use data as a tool for empowerment rather than oppression.

In person | Virtual event

Video games are primed for change: roughly half of all players identify as female. Games themselves need a creative platform-expanding, metaphysical explosion; feminism can make games better.

In person | Virtual event

Did you learn in school that the Greeks invented civilization? Do you believe that aliens built the pyramids? Stacy Hackner discusses a few ways in which a common conception of the past doesn’t add up, why we’ve come to think of history in this biased way, and how we can continue to question and correct these misunderstandings.

In person | Virtual event

Since the start of the Trump era, the United States and the Western world has finally begun to wake up to the threat of online warfare and the attacks from Russia. The question no one seems to be able to answer is: what can the West do about it? Nina Jankowicz reveals all.

In person | Virtual event

Geoffrey Robertson QC, who defended the last blasphemy cases in the UK – against Gay News and The Satanic Verses - recalls the struggle to abolish the blasphemy law and looks forward to the struggle to disestablish the Church of England before the coronation of Charles III.

In person | Virtual event

Lisa Morton investigates the eerie history of our conversations with the dead, from necromancy in Homer’s Odyssey to the emergence of Spiritualism – when Victorians were entranced by mediums and the seance was born.

In person | Virtual event

A panel discussion from UCL Climate Action Society about the disproportionate vulnerabilities and health burdens of climate change.

In person | Virtual event

To understand the role of AI better, UCL’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence explore why and how AI can be useful to make and measure progress towards sustainable development.

In person | Virtual event

In this talk, Dr Kezia Barker from Birkbeck, University of London, explores the practice of 'Preppers', asking whether we have been offered a glimpse of an apocalypse to come.

In person | Virtual event

The Centre of Innovation Management Research at Birkbeck reflects on the experience of Covid-19 in its different phases, from lockdown to a new start, looking at how innovation processes, modes and practices have evolved.

In person | Virtual event

As we increasingly come to inhabit cities, researchers from Birkbeck, Kings College and UCL set out some ideas for what our urban futures may look and feel like, featuring case studies from around the world.

In person | Virtual event

Dr Lorenzo Lotti from the UCL Energy Institute investigates the evidence and main findings of recent behavioural economics.

In person | Virtual event