Gresham College Lectures

A World Without Work - Daniel Susskind

01 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the future, we may face ‘structural’ technological unemployment in the labour market – where there is no longer enough work to occupy the hum...

The Dictionary City: Londoners and the Oxford English Dictionary - Sarah Ogilvie

28 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Londoners who helped create the world's largest English dictionary. She has unearthed a fascinating group of people across all social classes who...

Music of the Mind - Milton Mermikides

24 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Milton Mermikides on the 15th of April 2026 at LSO, LondonMilton Mermikides is a composer, guitarist, technologist, acade...

"Unsquaring” the Square Mile: Connecting People with Opportunity - Susan Langley

21 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Moving the conversation on social mobility out of the boardroom and into the mainstream, the Lady Mayor Dame Susan Langley will set out her ambition t...

The Shape of Gravity: Why On Earth Are Planets Spherical? - Alain Goriely

17 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Alain Goriely on the 3rd of March 2026 at Barnard’s Inna Hall, LondonAlain Goriely is a mathematician with broad intere...

The Death of Athenian Democracy? - Melissa Lane

14 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on the 12th of March 2026 at Barnard’s Inna Hall, LondonMelissa Lane is the Class of 1943 Professor of Pol...

Guantánamo on the Euphrates? Syria in a Time of Opportunity - Clive Stafford Smith

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Stafford Smith on the 19th of March 2026 at Barnard’s Inn Hall, LondonClive Stafford Smith JD OBE is a dual UK-US natio...

The Universe’s 100th Birthday: Galactic Fireworks and Little Red Dots - Chris Lintott

08 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

100 years ago this year, Edwin Hubble published the first conclusive evidence that there were galaxies beyond the Milky Way. This lecture, using new r...

Bridget: Goddess and Saint - Professor Ronald Hutton

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on the 10th of March 2026 at Barnard’s Inna Hall, LondonProfessor Hutton is Professor of History at the U...

Oligarchs and Their Discontents - Melissa Lane

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Professor Melissa Lane on 5th March 2026 at Barnard’s Inn Hall, London.Melissa Lane is the Class of 1943 Professor of P...

Why Do We Hate? - Robin May

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Hatred is one of the most destructive human emotions, responsible for some of the greatest atrocities that humans have committed against each other. B...

Born Supremacy – AI as a Pale Shadow of Real Humanity - Professor Matt Jones

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this lecture, we glimpse our best selves and compare that to a world where we lose everything of ourselves to AI. We are glorious creations that re...

That's Not Funny: The Ethics of Satire - Judith Hawley

20 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It used to be taken for granted that satire uses nasty means to good ends: it ridicules its targets in order to bring about reform.  However, in rece...

Work, Out of Reach - Daniel Susskind

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Right now, the technological challenge we are most likely to face in the labour market is ‘frictional’ technological unemployment – where there ...

Gresham College Podcast with Antony Penrose

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This episode of the Gresham College Podcast features an interview with Antony Penrose, hosted by Jeoffrey Sarpong. Antony Penrose is a film maker, pho...

Lee Miller: Why Her Photography Still Matters Today - Antony Penrose

13 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What is it that makes an image stick in our memory against our will? People find many of Lee Miller’s combat photographs have this indelible quality...

Music of Earth and Space - Professor Milton Mermikides

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Since Pythagoras, we have imagined the universe as a vast, resonant instrument—a cosmic harmony waiting to be heard. From Holst’s orchestral visio...

How Women Made the Global Economy - Dr Victoria Bateman

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Economic history has been written by men, for men and about men, giving the impression that – until recently – the economy was “just for men”....

Climate Risk and Insurance - Raghavendra Rau

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/Hwl0YRRaHgEWhy did coastal homeowners lose insurance while UK energy bills spiked after Russia’s in...

The Price of Pixels: Unmasking the Environmental Impact of Our Digital Lives - Ian Mudway

27 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Our digital world's convenience masks a heavy environmental cost. This lecture explores the destructive rare earth mineral mining powering our de...

Peacebuilding through the visual Arts - Jolyon Mitchell

24 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How can the visual arts be used to promote peace? Professor Mitchell investigates how the visual arts can not only incite violence, but also bear witn...

The Shape of Shells: She Sells Self-Similar Spiral Seashells on the Seashore - Professor Alain Goriely

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Alain Goriely on 13th February 2026 at Bernard’s Inn Hall, LondonAlain Goriely is a mathematician with broad interests ...

Pictures from Afghanistan: Are we making the same mistakes? - Clive Stafford Smith

17 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Clive Stafford Smith on the 9th of February 2026 at Bernard’s Inn Hall, LondonClive Stafford Smith JD OBE is a dual UK-...

Death Investigation: What Do Coroners Do? - Peter Thornton

13 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/9ozYDQFkfaYWhen death occurs, the state has a duty to investigate. Every death must be registered loc...

Alien Earths: What Makes Us Special? - Professor Chris Lintott

10 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Sometime in 2026, we will discover our 10000th exoplanet, a world around a distant star. This population of worlds has proved remarkably diverse, but ...

Will You Be AI’s Pet? - Matt Jones

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/fuk6LYeOCDQI have two pet dogs; they are happy, wagging their tails and reacting well when I come hom...

An Ocean of Air - Helen Czerski

03 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/_HJt1zjecCoThe major environmental challenge of our time is framed in terms of what happens in our at...

Mithras: Master of Mystery - Ronald Hutton

30 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The cult of Mithras was by far the most famous of the mystery religions of the Roman Empire: private societies of worshippers devoted to a particular ...

Why Do We Grieve? - Robin May

27 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Grieving is a uniquely human emotion – or is it? Is the apparent attachment of elephants or orcas to the bodies of dead relatives a sign of grief, o...

Constable's "The Cornfield": A Bicentenary Harvesting - Professor Malcolm Andrews

23 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Constable’s painting The Cornfield celebrates its bicentenary in 2026. How has it aged? This is a landscape that has acquired iconic status – a ma...

Music of Light and Colour - Milton Mermikides

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here:  https://youtu.be/3B58-fA2b-4"Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many ...

Economics and Artificial Intelligence - Daniel Susskind

16 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

ChatGPT, the AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, was the fastest growing app in history. But this achievement, as sudden and remarkable as it might seem, ...

Donald Trump and the Death Penalty - Clive Stafford Smith

06 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

One of the first executive orders issued by President Trump in January was EO 14164 designed to “restore the death penalty”, though actually aimed...

From Mars with Love: Postcards from 50 Years of Exploring The Red Planet - Chris Lintott

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

During the fifty years since the launch of the Viking spacecraft to Mars, our view of the red planet has changed from hostile desert to a world which ...

Life, Death and Judgement in the Art and Times of Hieronymus Bosch (d. 1516) - Sophie Oosterwijk

30 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture looks at the 'surreal' art of the Early Netherlandish painter Jheronimus Bosch within its historical and cultural context. Alth...

Hecate: Mistress of Magic - Ronald Hutton

26 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hecate started as the ruling goddess of the Asian region of Caria, and got taken over by the Greeks as the only one able to operate in every realm of ...

Where Is China Heading under Xi Jinping? - Steve Tsang

23 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this lecture, Tsang examines the strategic goals and direction of travel China’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping, has set for the country and its peop...

The Later Years: Organisation, Independence and Peace of Mind - Sir Peter Thornton KC

19 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How should we get organised for our later years? With just a little preparation while we are fit and healthy, we can express our wishes for more diffi...

Why Do We Laugh? - Robin May

16 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Laughter is an incredibly powerful and yet mysterious emotion. We laugh with delight, but also surprise. We laugh at jokes, but also at embarrassment....

The Shape of Plants: Why Plants Love Mathematics and Mathematicians Love Plants - Alain Goriely

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/Lv5h-Pp1r6sLooking at the plant world, one discovers beautiful and fascinating structures in the shap...

Becoming AI – Your Journey to Assimilation? - Matt Jones

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wittgenstein wrote: “If a lion could talk, we would not understand it”. That is, as lions and humans are not of the same material, they could not ...

Limitarianism and Capitalism - Ingrid Robeyns

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Limitarianism holds that it is immoral to have personal wealth above a certain level. Is this idea compatible with capitalism? Defenders of capitalism...

Do Not Resuscitate Forms - Who’d Have One? - Mark Taubert

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this lecture, Mark Taubert, who chairs the national DNACPR policy for Wales, and is a palliative care clinician, reviews current practices. He will...

The Great God Pan: Lord of the Wild - Ronald Hutton

28 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Pan started as a shepherds’ god in a wild and backward area of Greece, but became one of the best-known in the Greek and Roman world. This was partl...

Minor Criminal: The Trial of the Man Who Murdered My Grandmother - Lord Daniel Finkelstein

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/oQeUePfTrEQThe Royal Historical Society Colin Matthew Memorial Lecture.In April 1945, British forces ...

China’s Economic Prospects on the Cusp - George Magnus

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

China has important islands of technological excellence, even dominance, but these islands exist in a sea of macroeconomic imbalances and headwinds. X...

Ocean: The Liquid Engine That Dominates Our Planet

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We often talk about living on a blue planet, but when we think we’re talking about the ocean we’re generally only discussing what’s in it: fish,...

Music of Animals - Milton Mermikides

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Do animals make music? Are the languages of whales and birds truly songs? To answer this, we must first understand what we mean by music as human anim...

The Economics of Work and Technology - Daniel Susskind

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/v0RoRG2YA-0Why has automation anxiety – the fear that new technologies cause mass unemployment – ...

Whither War; Whither the Law of War - Professor Sir Geoffrey Nice KC

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How might we change the way we – and all our leaders think – so that we never go to war? The war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the confl...

From Tyranny to Athenian Democracy - Melissa Lane

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When – and how – did Athenian democracy begin? There is no unambiguous answer to this question. This lecture explores one plausible origin: the po...

China and Chineseness: Lessons from the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan - Steve Tsang

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture is about the meaning of China and being Chinese. It examines critically how the Chinese state, under the control of the Communist Party d...

War's Toxic Legacy - Ian Mudway

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/3LrIEG26m78War's environmental legacies disproportionately burden the civilian populations left ...

How Does Mathematics Last? Heritage and Heritage-making in Mathematics - Caroline Ehrhardt

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How is mathematical knowledge recorded and preserved across generations? Contrary to the idea that mathematics itself is somehow ‘permanent’, in t...

Evoking Empathy through Animal Portraiture

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The natural world faces unprecedented threats, challenging historical perceptions of nature as inexhaustible. Photographer Tim Flach draws on his accl...

Why Do We Fear? - Robin May

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Fear is one of the earliest emotions to have evolved. Most vertebrates – and possibly some invertebrates – show fear when they are threatened. At ...

Hitler, Jesus & How to Win a Culture War - Alec Ryrie

14 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Since 1945 Hitler and the Nazis have been the Western world’s one fixed moral reference point: the way we know what evil is. But that consensus has ...

How It Ends: What We Know about the Fate of the Universe - Chris Lintott

10 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How will it all end? Predicting the far future of our Universe depends on understanding its present. This lecture starts with what seems to be a parad...

AI Will Be Your Overlord: Faster, Brighter, Better Than You?

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

“Scary”, “Worried”, “Dangerous” were some of the most frequent words to describe AI in a recent UK Government public survey. Do you fear, ...

Shakespeare’s Musical Fairies - Dominic Broomfield-McHugh

03 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Written in the era of the founding of Gresham College, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream portrays the hypnotic dreaminess of a fairy world i...

Lessons from Guantánamo Bay - Clive Stafford Smith

30 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture looks at the evolution of Guantánamo Bay, first as a focal point of Haitian immigration in 1991 (Gitmo 1.0), to the more famous detentio...

The Shape of Hands: Symmetry, Chirality and Handedness - Alain Goriely

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The reflection of my right hand in a mirror is a left hand that looks similar yet is very different from the right. Many natural structures such as pr...

Earth – Our Planetary Life Support System - Professor Helen Czerski

23 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Planet Earth is an intricate and interconnected system, with some fundamental rules that we usually ignore. But we are part of our planet, not separat...

Automation Anxiety - Daniel Susskind

19 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ever since modern economic growth began three centuries ago, people have suffered from periodic bursts of anxiety about the technologies of the time t...

Galileo’s Journey to the Underworld: The Case for Interdisciplinary Thinking - Sarah Hart

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

ttps://x.com/GreshamCollege Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/tv554JY9TPUIn 1588, the young Galileo delivered some lectures that were ...

A World Remade by Decolonization? - Martin Thomas

19 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The lecture shares perspectives from global history, comparative politics, and international relations to revaluate whether the twentieth-century coll...

Oil, Decolonisation, and the Future of the Climate Emergency - Adam Hanieh

15 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Decolonisation movements sought to win sovereignty and control over national resources, especially oil. This lecture explores oil’s influence on nat...

Shanawdithit: A Woman at the End of the World - Julia Laite

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Shanawdithit was a woman who bore witness to the death of her world in the early nineteenth century, creating the only first-hand account we have of t...

Outsmart the System: How Psychology Hacks Your Money Decisions - Raghavendra Rau

08 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ever feel like the financial world works against you? This lecture discusses "behavioral finance" – how our brains get tricked by money ma...

Democracy and International Criminal Justice in the Fragile World of the Rule of Law - Howard Morrison

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The lecture will examine the pros and cons of democracy in today's world, focusing on the importance of domestic and international rule of law to...

The Future of Health - Chris Whitty

01 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Health over the last 150 years in the UK and internationally has been transformed and this rapid rate of change will continue. Improvements in public ...

Sum Stories: Equations and their Origins - Robin Wilson

29 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How long is the coastline of Britain? What is a rhombicuboctahedron? Which US president proved Pythagoras’s theorem? These and many other intriguing...

The Deceived Brain: Coding and Illusion - Alain Goriely

25 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We perceive the world through the processing of information given by our senses. Sometimes, this processing is faulty leading to illusions: shapes or ...

The Future of Immunity - Robin May

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Our understanding of the human immune system today is vastly different from that of 50 years ago. This knowledge has led to immune-based therapies tha...

Remixing the Music of the Spheres - Milton Mermikides and Chris Lintott

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the fifth and final lecture from the Gresham Festival of Musical Ideas.https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/musical-ideas-2025Professors...

The Virtues of Music - Milton Mermikides and Melissa Lane

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the third lecture from the Gresham Festival of Musical Ideas.https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/musical-ideas-2025This dialogue presen...

Climbing Mount Groove: Music and Dance in the Brain - Milton Mermikides and Morten Kringelbach

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the second lecture from the Gresham Festival of Musical Ideas.https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/musical-ideas-2025Why does a rhythm m...

The Evolution of Music - Milton Mermikides and Robin May

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the first lecture from the Gresham Festival of Musical Ideas.https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/musical-ideas-2025Musical instruments ...

The Maths of Music (and the Music of Maths) - Milton Mermikides and Sarah Hart

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the fourth lecture from the Gresham Festival of Musical Ideas.https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/musical-ideas-2025Professors Sarah Ha...

Architecture of Enslavement, Colonialism and Independence: The Story of James Fort in Accra - Elsie Owusu

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Accra’s James Fort is an iconic monument for Ghana and modern Africa. This lecture explores the fort's evolution -from its role as a trading po...

The Operatic Showstopper: ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ - Dominic Broomfield-McHugh

11 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture considers ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ from Carousel (1945). Perhaps Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most operatic song, it was originally...

Carbon Takeback: How We Will Stop Fossil Fuels from Causing Global Warming - Myles Allen

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We have to stop fossil fuels from causing global warming – before the world stops using fossil fuels. There’s only one solution: safe and permanen...

Do Computers Get Sick? How Humans and Computers Fight Viruses - Robin May & Victoria Baines

04 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Whether you are human or computer, viruses can ruin your day, so taking steps to avoid them is important. This lecture will ask whether there are simi...

Illuminating the Dark Side of the Moon - Milton Mermikides

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Now over 50 years old, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon remains the perfect example of a concept album. Blending cyclical forms, jazz and modal ha...

Lawgivers in Modern Revolutions - Melissa Lane

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How have lawgivers featured in modern revolutions? This lecture considers key moments in revolutions, including seventeenth-century Britain, eighteent...

Taking the Constitution into the Classroom - Clive Stafford Smith

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The U.S. Constitution had to be formed through debate before it could be ratified. Mirroring this, a British constitution must emerge through debates ...

A New Sky - Chris Lintott

20 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The JWST is the most expensive and powerful telescope astronomers have ever constructed. Its launch in 2021 started a new phase in our exploration of ...

Blind Spots & Bad Decisions: Why We Fall for Financial Traps - Raghavendra Rau

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why do smart people make dumb financial choices? This lecture explores the surprising link between our psychology and money mistakes. We will see how ...

The Moral Case for Stealing Data - Victoria Baines

13 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/hLBfAVyeMBsThroughout history, authorities have struggled to manage individuals’ urges to speak out...

From Thin Air: Minimalist and process music from Africa to Arvo Pärt - Milton Mermikides

10 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/3ntebbsM4HwThis lecture delves into musical forms which rely on the most economical of materials and ...

Modern Pagan Witchcraft - Ronald Hutton

06 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on 14th May 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Ronald is the Gresham Professor of Divinity.He is also ...

From Machiavelli to Nietzsche: How Modern Thinkers Saw Ancient Lawgivers - Melissa Lane

03 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/VOGzTymAYnoFor many modern thinkers, the lawgiver has been important as a founder or re-founder of ci...

The Troubled Brain: Ageing and Dementia - Alain Goriely

30 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s are devastating neurological conditions that typically occur at old age and lead to systematic dementi...

Divine Law, Human Prophet: Moses in Hebrew and Greek - Melissa Lane

28 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Melissa Lane on 6th March 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Melissa Lane is Gresham Professor of Rhetoric.Melissa i...

Does Net Zero Mean the End of Livestock Agriculture? - Myles Allen

23 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Myles Allen  on 29th April 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Myles is the Frank Jackson Foundation Professor of th...

What Rights and Duties are Missing from the U.S. Constitution? - Clive Stafford Smith

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Clive Stafford Smith on 10th April 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Clive is the Gresham Professor of LawHe is the...

The 2025 Annual Lord Mayor's Event - Alastair King

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This lecture was recorded by Alderman Alastair King on 14th April 2025 at Guildhall, London.Alastair King is the 696th Lord Mayor of the City of Londo...

How Does Surveillance Work? - Victoria Baines

14 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/Y9JR7El863kOur alert systems for identifying safety and security threats have evolved over time. As t...

Why Are Cities Going Bankrupt? - Martin Daunton

09 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/G_SpC_BV4jAIn the late nineteenth century, Joseph Chamberlain transformed Birmingham with municipal e...

Modern Druids - Ronald Hutton

06 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/qz9a4zXIFz0The ancient Druids have long represented some of the most striking and controversial figur...