Canterbury Christ Church University's Public Lecture Series

Jo Brand is a hugely popular comedian, writer and actor. Since making her start on the alternative comedy scene in the 80's, Jo is now best known for regular TV appearances on QI, Have I Got News for You and Would I Lie to You?, as well as hosting The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice. Jo talked about making more of a fuss, getting decent care, some proper respect and irritating people – with a few jokes too.

Steve Backshall is a BAFTA-winning naturalist, explorer and TV presenter, who recently graduated from Canterbury Christ Church University with a MSc by Research in Bioscience. Steve gave a special careers talk for our students discussing routes into ‘Careers in Wildlife Media' - sharing his unique experiences and advice, and taking questions from the audience.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Regius Professor of Computer Science, Associate Vice President (International Engagement) and an Executive Director of the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton, discussed trends in AI and their implications for society including national strategies for AI, geopolitical pressures on AI and data governance, and future scenarios. She laid out why we need to take a socio-technical approach to every aspect of the evolution of AI in society, to ensure that we all reap the benefits of AI and protect ourselves as much as possible from applications of AI that might be harmful.

Dame Lynne Owens, former Director General of the National Crime Agency until October 2021, discussed her career highlights, what it was like to be responsible for security at the Royal Wedding and the visit of President Obama, and why students should consider a career in policing. We also explored the current challenges facing policing and the law enforcement agencies and Dame Lynne's hopes for the future.

Dame Sara Thornton is the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner with a UK-wide remit to encourage good practice in the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of slavery and human trafficking offences and the identification of victims. Prior to holding this public appointment she was a chief constable for 12 years leading Thames Valley Police and then the National Police Chiefs' Council.

Darren Henley OBE is Chief Executive of the Arts Council England. He has led two independent reviews into music and cultural education which resulted in England’s first National Plan for Music Education, new networks of Music Education Hubs, Cultural Education Partnerships and Heritage Schools, the Museums and Schools programme, the BFI Film Academy and the National Youth Dance Company.

Hosted by the University’s Politics and International Relations programme and in partnership with the Canterbury and District Inter-Faith Action (CANDIFA) and The Canterbury Society, the prospective parliamentary candidates from the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and an independent candidate attended Meet the Candidates for the 2019 General Election and made their case to the audience as to why they should be elected as Canterbury’s Member of Parliament.

Polling expert Sir John Curtice, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University in Scotland and Senior Research Fellow at NatCen Social Research will discuss the public’s reaction to the Brexit process in this thought-provoking lecture.

The Climate Change Act (2008) enshrines our emissions reduction targets in UK legislation; however, the majority of our environmental regulation – critical to our progress in addressing risks such as flooding, drought, heatwaves – is from the EU, which also provides the critical enforcement function.

At this pivotal time in our nation’s history, Archbishop Justin Welby sets out to identify the values that can help us to reimagine, and to enact, a more hopeful future for our country. Drawing on the Bible, Britain’s history and its Christian tradition, Archbishop Justin explores how we can build on our past to offer hope for the future, suggesting practical ways to help achieve a cohesive, courageous and resilient society. Archbishop Justin was installed as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury in March 2013. Prior to this, he was Bishop of Durham from 2011 to 2012 and Dean of Liverpool Cathedral from 2007 to 2011. He was ordained in 1992 following an 11-year career in the oil industry.

In 2009, John Bercow was elected 157th Speaker of the House of Commons, and subsequently re-elected in 2010, 2015 and 2017. He has served as MP for Buckingham since 1997. Since his election as Speaker, John has sought to champion the rights of backbenchers and has ensured Parliamentary Business is dealt with in a timely manner to enable as many MPs to contribute as possible. In addition, John has granted an unprecedented number of Urgent Questions in order that Parliament discusses the pressing issues of the day. In his lecture, entitled ‘The making of a modern Parliament’, John discusses the Speakership, the modernisation of Parliament and the importance of opening up our democratic processes.

As Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies acts as the UK Government’s medical adviser and is the professional head of all directors of public health. She has been widely commended for her leadership of worldwide efforts to address the ‘ticking time bomb’ of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – also known as drug-resistant infections. In this fascinating lecture, Dame Sally discusses the rise of AMR, its implications and the global response to resolve the problem.

Lord Peter Hennessy is a journalist, professor and researcher. He is widely recognised as one of the country’s leading historians of British politics and an acclaimed expert on the inner workings of government machinery, from the complexities of constitutional arrangements to the role of the secret state. In this thought-provoking lecture, he draws on his vast experience, and his book Distilling the Frenzy: Writing the History of One’s Own Times, to offer an insight into the challenges of researching and writing about contemporary political history.

David Lough reveals how prime ministers from Robert Walpole to Tony Blair have built fortunes from their post. He discusses how they dealt with the ethical issues of their day, with particular reference to the usually chaotic finances of Winston Churchill.

The lecture draws on research in a post-industrial city where racism has found purchase. Archbishop Justin Welby challenges the neglect of post-industrial cities like this: locations of economic decline, the collapse of self-help institutions and hollowed out democracy. Yet if there are examples of Islamism and racist gangs there are resources of hope too.

In his lecture, The Best of All Possible Worlds, Michael will explore the subject of writing about the environment for children. It is a subject that he has continued to return to through his books and believes that connecting children with the environment is of critical importance if we are to turn the tide of environmental literacy.

Parliamentary candidates for Canterbury and Whitstable hustings

Sir Richard Sykes relates his own experiences from working in both industry and academia and then takes a look at where we are today and how we might proceed for the future.

Baroness Onora O’Neill spoke together with Mark Hammond on the right to freedom of expression. Their lecture surveyed the history and philosophy of freedom of expression. It introduced a new publication by the EHRC on the legal framework that protects – and restricts – this freedom, with particular reference to hate speech and offence relating to characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010.

Building on the analysis in his The Question of Conscience: higher education and personal responsibility, David Watson will examine the case for and against universities as sites for moral leadership and what Amartya Sen calls ‘public reasoning’.

Nigel Biggar, author of the controversial book, In Defence of War (2013), uses the criteria of Christian 'just war' thinking to argue that Britain was right to fight in defence of Belgium and France against unprovoked German invasion in August 1914. He also contends that she was right to carry on fighting until November 1918 and that the costs, although appalling, were not manifestly disproportionate. Britain's Great War, he concludes, deserves both celebration and lamentation.

Multiculturalism no longer enjoys political nor popular support. Far Right and other forms of extremism are growing and identity politics are threatening national solidarity. We need a new way of thinking about how we live together in an increasingly globalised world in which complex and multi-faceted identities are fast becoming the norm. Professor Ted Cantle will set out the theoretical and practical case for 'interculturalism' and explain how it provides a new and positive perspective for the future of social relationships.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe argues that the significant investments in IT already made by the Police have not brought the benefits it deserves and that by having a more consistent and central strategy, the people of this country would get a far better service. He also believes that investing in appropriate technology will enhance the effect of those officers concentrating on repeat victims, repeat offenders and repeat locations. His ambition is to make the Met the best Police Force in the country, by having a total approach to policing – 50,000 people acting as a team will always do more than 50,000 individuals. He believes in concentrating that process on a total war on crime, helping victims and being professional.

"The NHS has become a three-tier health service because successive governments have refused to admit that it cannot meet, and never will be able to meet, every last demand that is made upon it. We therefore have to find a different way of delivering health if we are not to end up with rationing on a large scale". In 1998 Ann Widdecombe delivered a much acclaimed speech to the Conservative Party Conference, urging just such an approach, but now in 2012 we are still using the 1948 model. Ann will argue it is time for political courage and a re-assessment of our mechanisms, particularly our financial approach to health, and that those who can should be encouraged to take greater responsibility for their own health

The lecture was followed by a round table discussion with Richard Norman, Emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Kent and lecturer on Canterbury Christ Church University’s Community Arts Education programme, and The Rt Rev James Langstaff, Bishop of Rochester.

No country embodied the turbulence of twentieth century Europe more than East Prussia, once Germany's most eastern redoubt and now divided between Poland and Russia. A land of apparent contradictions, it produced astonishing intellectual achievement, raw militarism and anxiety, cruelty and suffering, tolerance and extremism, domineering red brick castles left by the Teutonic knights and neat villages and productive farming and a symbolic identity as a beleaguered bastion of western European civilisation. Max Egremont's most recent book is Forgotten Land - Journeys among the Ghosts of East Prussia. His lecture will tell of a frequently troubled and now mythical place.

Hugh Robertson MP, was promoted to the Conservative front bench in November 2002 as a Conservative Whip before becoming Shadow Sports Spokesman in September 2004. He became Shadow Minister for Sport in February 2005 and was re-elected to Parliament. He was reappointed Shadow Sports Minister. Following the successful bid for the London Olympics, Hugh was also appointed Shadow Olympics Minister. Hugh was re-elected to Parliament again in 2010 and was appointed Sports and Olympics Minister for the new Coalition Government.

The talk presents the view that the Internet is in some respects a linguistic revolution, introducing new opportunities for communication, but that its influence on individual languages has so far been quite limited.

The Dreamland Margate project is being led by Jonathan Bryant, who has a wealth of experience in the heritage and leisure sectors and business leadership. Jonathan will be giving an insight into the project to restore Dreamland in Margate to one of the country’s leading amusement parks. He will describe the history behind the site and the work which remains to be done before it can re-open its doors.

This lecture will look at the role of women writers in the boom in sensation fiction in the nineteenth century and the ways in which novelists like Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Ellen Wood both participated in a burgeoning literary marketplace and in debates about the commodification of literature. The talk will also look at some of the ways in which the women’s sensation novel explored the ethics of materialism and consumption.

David will give a short history of the music business and how copyright has developed for songwriters and performers. He will discuss the use of music in film, TV productions, advertising and video games and why it is so important. He will also discuss the transition from physical sound carriers to digital online delivery and what the solutions are.

Running through much of Professor Andrew Higson’s work is a concern for questions of national cinema; his article ‘The concept of national cinema’, first published in Screen in 1989, has proved very influential and has been translated and/or reprinted several times. He has published various papers since 1989, which revise his arguments about national and transnational cinema as well as papers on the British heritage film, on the British new wave, on silent cinema, on Channel 4 television and on film acting. He is currently working on three separate projects. He is editing the Routledge Encyclopedia of Film History, with Kristian Moen, Nathalie Morris and Jonathan Stubbs. He is working on a history of Anglia Television, the ITV company for the East of England. He is completing a book on British cinema in the 1990s and 2000s, provisionally entitled Film England, 1990-2008: (Trans)National Cinema, English Literature and Narratives of the Past and Present some of which forms the basis for the Nick Burton Memorial Lecture 2011.

John will look, in layman’s terms, at how modern nuclear reactors work, the prospects for a new generation of nuclear power stations, in Britain and worldwide, and how, if they are built, to make them as safe and secure as possible. Where are the catches in this ‘clean’ power generation, and how can the potential link of parts of the nuclear fuel cycle to the production of nuclear weapons be internationally policed and controlled. Why has the spread of nuclear power generation not led to the wider spread of nuclear weapons predicted in the 1960s? To a remarkable degree, so called ‘non proliferation’ has worked to date, but will the Non Proliferation Treaty be fit for purpose in the 21st Century, and what are the key indicators to look for to judge its success or failure?

The visual effects industry in the UK is one of the most highly regarded in the world, regularly producing work on the biggest Hollywood blockbusters. This talk will give you an insight into the various disciplines that make up this field and how they fit together, plus an overview of the major companies that make up the European and International market. The topics will be covered in a way that is easy to grasp, whether you are looking for a job in this area or would just like to know more about this rapidly growing industry.

Frank Field’s entire career has been concerned with improving the lives of those worst off in society, initially as Director of the Child Poverty Action Group, and for the last thirty years as MP for Birkenhead. The new Coalition Government has now asked him to lead an independent review on poverty and life chances. The Review will look at how we measure poverty in Britain today - whether low income alone constitutes poverty, and if not what are the other aspects of poverty, and how they are measured - what the key determinants of good life chances are - taking account of the importance of a child's development before attending school and how good influences at this stage of a child's life can best be embedded in society.

Mention any of the big issues facing us in the 21st century - abortion, euthanasia, embryo research, designer babies, saviour siblings, genetically modified animals, human guinea pigs, animal research, nuclear power, pregnant men, assisted suicide or climate change - and you will inevitably start a debate. All of these issues, and everything else for that matter, has an ethical dimension. This lecture aims to set out the ethical challenges of life in the 21st century, and to inform the discussion about what's right and what's wrong.

This lecture looks at why decisions are taken about sending particular works of art abroad, and what they say about us, and about those who receive them. Examples include: David Hockney, sent to Mexico the year after homosexuality was decriminalised in Britain; works by Mona Hatoum, sent to Iran during the Islamic Revolution; and works by Antony Gormley, which we chose not to send to Bosnia despite the artist’s entreaties during the Balkan wars. Other parts of the world, as varied as Saudi Arabia, the US, and Northern Ireland, are also considered in this lecture, and how our perspectives shift when seen from very different angles.

Acting with the best of intentions, professionals sometimes do more harm than good when they intervene in the lives of other people. Decisions to use or withhold interventions in health care, social care and education should take account of findings in systematic reviews of relevant and reliable research evidence. Continued failure to do this will result in continued avoidable suffering and death, and waste of resources.

What do pupils come to school for? is a question that is likely to draw different responses from policy makers, employers, parents and the pupils themselves.

The suppression of Thomas Becket's cult in 1538 was more than a matter of demolishing his shrine. This lecture will explore how it was entangled with King Henry VIII's bitter battle with another defiant English prince of the Church, and how it made itself felt in every monastery and parish church in the land.

Not a load of old rubbish - the educational use of archaeological material.

Dr Andrew Richardson discusses and explores early Canterbury and the Augustinian mission.

Professor Kirk explores the memory and legacy of Dr Martin Luther King in modern American society.

The event is part of the 2009 celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's 'Origin of Species' and his 200th birthday. The lecture will focus on Darwin, Darwinism and butterflies (Darwin, himself, did not say or do much with butterflies, although what he did say was very interesting). The lecture will touch on Henry Walter Bates on mimicry (a key debate in history of Darwinism), and Alfred Russel Wallace versus Darwin on sexual selection; two examples of where Darwinian 'transference' (proposed by Darwin for birds) appears to have affected butterfly evolution (one, Papilio dardanus, in concert with Batesian mimicry, the other, Appias nero, not). The lecture will conclude with an assessment of the role of behaviour versus genes in evolution.

In his lecture Reverend Coles will discuss the complex relationship between faith, communities and the media, which for some could be characterised by fear, loathing and mistrust on the part of the former and incomprehension on the latter. He will explore a range of ideas as to why this characterisation has come about and propose that both faith communities and the media might benefit if we can renegotiate the contract between the two.

Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE was Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge from 2012 until 2021. She came to the college from the National Trust, where she was Director-General from 2001-2012. During her time there, she made the Trust warmer and more welcoming, bringing the houses to life and raising the profile of the Trust's work in the countryside. Her book The Fight for Beauty was published in 2016. Fiona was appointed CBE for services to the environment and conservation in 1998 and DBE in 2008.