Madingley Lectures

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A series of free public lectures given by leading authorities in their fields. The lectures take place at Madingley Hall, home of the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education (ICE). The Madingley Lectures are an important part of ICE's commitment to public engagement.

Cambridge University


    • Jan 4, 2016 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 1h 6m AVG DURATION
    • 21 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Madingley Lectures

    Broadcasting past and future. Talk by Roger Mosey

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 4, 2016 48:00


    Roger Mosey, Master of Selwyn College and former BBC executive, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 18 November 2015. Roger’s roles at the BBC included being editor of the Today programme, head of Television News and director of Sport, before being put in charge of the BBC’s coverage of London 2012. In this lecture, he talks about lessons from his career in broadcasting and also about the opportunities for the established media to be a force for good in the digital world.

    Darwin in public and private: talk by Dr Alison Pearn

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2015 50:27


    Dr Alison Pearn, Associate Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 2 July 2015. In it she argues that putting the public Darwin back into his personal context makes both the man and his ideas come alive in fascinating new ways for modern audiences.

    Superconductors are not just for MRI: talk by Professor David Cardwell

    Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2015 52:01


    Professor David Cardwell, Head of the Department of Engineering at Cambridge, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 11 May 2015. In it he describes the properties of superconductors, their manufacture and their potential for engineering applications, which include frictionless bearings, energy storage systems, MRI and high field permanent magnets.

    Why is modern poetry difficult? Talk by Professor Geoff Ward

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2015 45:27


    Professor Geoff Ward, Principal of Homerton College Cambridge, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 3 March 2015. In it he tries to get to the source of the discomfort that many readers experience in their encounters with modern poetry.

    The glass closet: why coming out is good business. Talk by Lord Browne

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2014 51:25


    Lord Browne of Madingley, Member of the House of Lords and former Chief Executive of BP, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 8 October 2014. John Browne (Lord Browne of Madingley) was CEO of BP from 1995 to 2007, where he built a reputation as a visionary leader, transforming BP into one of the world’s largest companies. He was the President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a foreign member of the US Academy of Arts and Sciences and Chairman of the Trustees of the Tate Galleries. He holds degrees from Cambridge and Stanford Universities, was knighted in 1998, and made a life peer in 2001. The lecture is chaired by Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 04:28 minute point in the video.

    What do we mean by 'music'? Talk by Professor Ian Cross

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2014 71:00


    Professor Ian Cross, Director of the Centre for Music and Science at the University of Cambridge, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 6 May 2014. Since 1980 Prof Cross has been involved in experimental investigations of the perception of tonal structures as well as of the role of culture and formal education in shaping musical cognition. He has explored the general limits and constraints on scientific accounts of music and is particularly involved in research into the relation between music and evolutionary theory. He is the author of over a hundred papers and book chapters, and was co-editor of Musical Structure and Cognition (1985) and Representing Musical Structure (1991), both published by Academic Press. More recently, he has co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology and the volume Language and Music as Cognitive Systems (2011), both published by OUP. Ian Cross is also a guitarist. The lecture is chaired by Professor John Rallison, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 03:25 minute point in the video.

    If Donald Rumsfeld were a scientist: talk by Professor Stephen Emmott

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2014 70:00


    Professor Stephen Emmott, Head of Computational Science at Microsoft Research Cambridge and author of '10 Billion', delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 2 April 2014. Prof Emmott leads an international, interdisciplinary research programme and scientific team, centred on Microsoft's Computational Science Laboratory, in Cambridge, whose goal is to make, enable and accelerate transformational advances in science in areas of societal importance. His team is responsible for developing the Madingley Model – so called because it was first proposed during a meeting at Madingley Hall between UNEP-WCMC and the CEES group at Microsoft Research. The Madingley Model is a global ecosystem model (GEM) which simulates how the structure and function of ecosystems at global scales emerges from the underlying ecology of individual organisms. The lecture is chaired by Professor Paul Linden, G I Taylor Professor of Fluid Mechanics at Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 04:08 minute point in the video.

    Professor Nicola Clayton and Clive Wilkins: Imagination: the door to identity

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 21, 2014 80:00


    Professor Nicola Clayton and Clive Wilkins, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, deliver a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 21 January 2014. The lecture is chaired by Professor Trevor Robbins, Head of the Department of Psychology at Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 03:30 minute point in the video.

    Professor Alison Sinclair: What’s wrong with wrongdoing?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2013 65:00


    Professor Alison Sinclair, Professor of Modern Spanish Literature and Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 23 October 2013. The lecture is chaired by Professor Manuel Eisner, Professor of Comparative and Developmental Criminology at Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 03:53 minute point in the video.

    Professor Steven Connor: Quantum writing: literature and the world of numbers

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 5, 2013 69:00


    Professor Steven Connor, Grace 2 Professor of English at the University of Cambridge, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 13 June 2013. The lecture is chaired by Professor Helen Cooper, Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at the University of Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 03:55 minute point in the video.

    Professor Colin McGinn: The science of philosophy

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2012 76:43


    Professor Colin McGinn, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Miami, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 19 November 2012. The lecture is chaired by Professor Tim Crane, Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 02:50 minute point in the video.

    Professor Andrew Balmford: Nature's glass: half-full or half-empty?

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2012 65:05


    Professor Andrew Balmford, Professor of Conservation Science at the University of Cambridge, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 8 October 2012. The lecture is chaired by Brian Eversham, Chief Executive of the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education at Cambridge. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 04:09 minute point in the video.

    Professor William Brown: How might we protect the wages of the weak?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 9, 2012 73:45


    Professor William Brown, Montague Burton Professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Cambridge, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 20 June 2012. The lecture is chaired by Professor Martin Daunton, Master of Trinity Hall and Professor of Economic History at Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 04:30 minute point in the video.

    Ann Cotton OBE: The justice and imperative of girls' education in Africa

    Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2012 65:35


    Ann Cotton OBE, Founder and Executive Director of Camfed International, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 5 March 2012. The lecture is chaired by Dr Kate Pretty, Principal of Homerton College, University of Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 07:40 minute point in the video.

    Professor Simon Goldhill: Victorian desire and the classical body

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 5, 2012 61:24


    Professor Simon Goldhill, Director of the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 30 January 2012. The lecture is chaired by Professor Robin Osborne, Professor of Ancient History, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 4:10 minute point in the video.

    Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz: Challenges of global health

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2012 69:31


    Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 24 November 2011. The lecture is chaired by Dr Ron Zimmern, Chairman of the Foundation for Genomics and Population Health, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education at the University of Cambridge. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 4:05 minute point in the video.

    Baroness Deech: Playing God: who should regulate reproductive medicine?

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 19, 2011 68:22


    Baroness Deech, Chair of the Bar Standards Board, delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 3 October 2011. The lecture is chaired by Professor Gordon Smith, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 4:10 minute point in the video.

    Dr Simon Thurley: Saving the past: the politics of preservation since 1997

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2011 73:39


    Dr Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 14 July 2011. The lecture is chaired by Dr Frank Salmon, Head of the Department of History of Art at the University of Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 3:40 minute point in the video.

    Professor David Spiegelhalter: Communicating risk and uncertainty

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2011 66:22


    Professor David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge delivers a public lecture at Madingley Hall on 3 May 2011. The lecture is chaired by Professor John Rallison, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 4:00 minute point in the video.

    Dr Francis Warner: Armageddon and faith: a survivor's meditation on the Blitz

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2011 110:36


    Dr Francis Warner, Honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, delivers the second Madingley Lecture at the Institute of Continuing Education on 19 February 2011. The lecture is introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 4:00 minute point in the video.

    Lord Rees: Life in the cosmos

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2011 71:49


    Lord Rees, Astronomer Royal and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, delivers the inaugural Madingley Lecture on 10 January 2011. The lecture is chaired by Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and introduced by Dr Rebecca Lingwood, Director of Continuing Education. Please note that the lecture proper begins at the 5:00 minute point in the video.

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