Gresham College Lectures

Gresham College has been providing free public lectures since 1597, making us London's oldest higher education institution. This podcast offers our recorded lectures that are free to access from the Gresham College website, or our YouTube channel.

Last refreshed: June 9th, 2026 at 3:25 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

How Hard is too Hard? An Introduction to Complexity - Colva Roney-Dougal

This lecture was recorded by Colva Roney-Dougal on the 11th of May 2026 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London Colva Mary Roney-Dougal OBE is a British mathematician specializing in group theory and computational algebra. She is Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews, where she is first female Head of Pure Mathematics. The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/hard-complexity Gresham C...

Jun 09, 2026•44 min

Making Memory Visible Through Photograph - Julia Winckler

With an academic background in social, cultural anthropology and photography, I have spent the last twenty-five years working on projects that have bridged photographic and archival research. I have witnessed the power of photography as a means to connect communities. I have experienced first-hand the benefits to participants of enabling an emotional connection and inspiring a sense of validation, of feeling seen and valued and heard. That their story matters. That they matter. In this talk, we ...

Jun 05, 2026•1 hr 2 min

Dionysus: Lord of Misrule - Ronald Hutton

This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on the 6th May 2026 at Barnard’s Inn Hall, London Professor Hutton is Professor of History at the University of Bristol. He took degrees at Cambridge and then Oxford Universities, and was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He is now a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries and the Learned Society of Wales, and has won awards for teaching and research. He has lectured all over the world, authored twenty...

Jun 02, 2026•47 min

A Living Planet - Helen Czerski

Earth is a living planet. But how much life is there, and what is it doing? We will discuss the distribution of biomass on Earth, and compare the effects of microbes, wild animals, domesticated animals. The aim of this lecture is to provide concrete examples of how life is woven in with the rest of the planetary engine, expanding the importance of biodiversity from sentiment alone to a matter of survival for both whole ecosystems and our own civilisation. This lecture was recorded by Helen Czers...

May 29, 2026•59 min

Music, Death and Afterlife - Mieko Kanno

This lecture was recorded by Mieko Kanno on the 5th May 2026 at Barnard’s Inn Hall, London Mieko Kanno is a violinist and an academic, active in both capacities as Professor of Artistic Research in Music Performance at the Sibelius Academy, the University of the Arts Helsinki. Her main interest concerns artistic musical practice as a field and vocation in contemporary settings, with topics ranging from notation and technology to education. She first came to international attention in the 1980s w...

May 29, 2026•41 min

Give Peace a Chance: Legal Implications of the Israel-Palestine Conflict - Clive Stafford Smith

This lecture was recorded by Clive Stafford Smith on the 30th of April 2026 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London Clive Stafford Smith JD OBE is a dual UK-US national, the founder and director of the Justice League a non-profit human rights training centre focused on fostering the next generation of advocates. The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/israel-palestine-law Gresham College has offered free pu...

May 22, 2026•41 min

The Shape of Tiles: Regular and Irregular, Hard and Soft - Alain Goriely

Tiling involves filling a plane or space with repeated elements, known as tiles. This simple concept is deeply embedded in the natural world and human design, appearing in structures as varied as the hexagonal wax cells of a beehive and decorative wallpapers. While regular hard tiles—geometric shapes with straight edges that fit together without gaps or overlaps—are common in human-made designs, nature often favours soft or irregular patterns, shaped by physical forces. In this lecture, I will e...

May 19, 2026•51 min

The Ground We Stand On - Helen Czerski

This lecture was recorded by Helen Czerski on the 19th of February 2026 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London Helen Czerski is a physicist and oceanographer with a passion for science, sport, books, creativity, hot chocolate and investigating the interesting things in life. She is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London and her research focus is the physics of breaking waves and bubbles at the ocean surface. These bubbles change underwater sound and light, he...

May 15, 2026•53 min

Tales from Television: Bringing the Natural World into Your Home - George McGavin

New camera technology can help make stunning footage for natural history programmes but the key to success is down to a lot of hard work, planning and a bit of luck. In this lecture we take a ‘behind the scenes’ look at some of the highs and lows of making television natural history documentaries. This lecture was recorded by George McGavin on the 3rd of October 2017 Professor McGavin is a British entomologist, explorer and author. He is an Honorary Research Associate at Oxford University Museum...

May 12, 2026•59 min

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