Welcome to the Madingley Lectures
A series of free public lectures given by leading authorities in their fields
The Madingley Lectures take place at Madingley Hall, home of the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education (ICE). They are an important part of our commitment to public engagement.
Forthcoming lectures
Broadcasting past and future, 18 November 2015, 7.00pm
Roger Mosey, Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Book your place »
Details of further lectures will be announced in due course.
If you have any questions about the lectures, contact Donna Johnson on [email protected] or 01223 746274.
Previous lectures
Videos of many of the previous Madingley Lectures are now available to watch online.
View them using the links below, or subscribe to Madingley Lectures on iTunes U.
Lectures in 2015
Why is modern poetry difficult? 3 March 2015 – *video available*
Professor Geoff Ward, Principal of Homerton College, University of Cambridge
Stripping down science, 23 March 2015
Dr Chris Smith, Public Understanding of Science Fellow, University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education
Superconductors are not just for MRI, 11 May 2015 – *video available*
Professor David Cardwell, Head of Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Darwin in public and private, 2 July 2015 – *video available*
Dr Alison Pearn, Associate Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project, Cambridge University Library
Lectures in 2014
Imagination: the door to identity, 21 January 2014 – *video available*
Professor Nicola Clayton and Clive Wilkins, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge
If Donald Rumsfeld were a scientist, 2 April 2014 – *video available*
Professor Stephen Emmott, Head of Computational Science at Microsoft Research Cambridge and author of 10 Billion
What do we mean by 'music'? (and how can we make sense of it?), 6 May 2014 – *video available*
Professor Ian Cross, Director of the Centre for Music and Science, University of Cambridge
The glass closet: why coming out is good business, 8 October 2014 – *video available*
Lord Browne of Madingley, Member of the House of Lords and former Chief Executive of BP
Pompeii and Herculaneum: does the past have a future?, 26 November 2014
Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Director of Research in the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge
Lectures in 2013
Historian as detective: the search for Darwin's predecessors, 18 February 2013
Professor Rebecca Stott, Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing, University of East Anglia
A slice of Raspberry Pi, 7 May 2013
Dr Eben Upton, Founder, Raspberry Pi Foundation
Quantum writing: literature and the world of numbers, 13 June 2013 – *video available*
Professor Steven Connor, Grace 2 Professor of English, University of Cambridge
What's wrong with wrongdoing?, 23 October 2013 – *video available*
Professor Alison Sinclair, Professor of Modern Spanish Literature and Intellectual History, University of Cambridge.
Lectures in 2012
Victorian desire and the classical body, 30 January 2012 – *video available*
Professor Simon Goldhill, Director of the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), University of Cambridge
The justice and imperative of girls' education in Africa, 5 March 2012 – *video available*
Ann Cotton OBE, Founder and Executive Director of Camfed International
How might we protect the wages of the weak?, 20 June 2012 – *video available*
Professor William Brown, Montague Burton Professor of Industrial Relations, University of Cambridge
Nature's glass: half-full or half-empty?, 8 October 2012 – *video available*
Professor Andrew Balmford, Professor of Conservation Science, University of Cambridge
The science of philosophy, 19 November 2012 – *video available*
Professor Colin McGinn, Professor of Philosophy, University of Miami, USA
Lectures in 2011
Life in the cosmos, 10 January 2011 – *video available*
Lord Rees, Astronomer Royal and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge
Armageddon and faith: a survivor's meditation on the Blitz, 19 February 2011 – *video available*
Dr Francis Warner, Honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge
Dambusters and the engineering behind the bouncing bomb, 14 March 2011
Dr Hugh Hunt, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge
Communicating risk and uncertainty, 3 May 2011 – *video available*
Professor David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk, University of Cambridge
Politics of heritage, 1997-2011, 14 July 2011 – *video available*
Dr Simon Thurley, Chief Executive, English Heritage
Playing God: who should regulate reproductive medicine?, 3 October 2011 – *video available*
Baroness Deech, Chair of the Bar Standards Board
Challenges of global health, 24 November 2011 – *video available*
Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge
The shield at the top of this page depicts the arms of the Harding family, who restored Madingley Hall between 1905 and 1910.