The 222nd lecture series
Season 2023/24
Our Members’ Newsletter can be viewed here.
The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow was founded in 1802, when the term ‘philosophy’ meant knowledge in the broadest sense. The Society provides stimulating lectures and discussion for members on a great diversity of topics.
You can see information and records of our previous speakers using the ‘Lectures’ tab and clicking on Past Lectures, and see the member event planned for September in the latest Members’ Newsletter, accessible from the ‘News’ tab
Our programme of lectures for 2023/24 will begin on 4th of October 2023 and members will shortly be receiving the programme brochure. You can see some of the forthcoming talks below. Following the great success of our visits to sister societies in York and Newcastle, a new members trip to Belfast is arranged for May 2024 in which we will visit the Belfast Natural History & Philosophical Society and key heritage sites. Members will already have received notification of this trip. While the trip is currently full, members can still add their names to the waiting list by contacting the Society administrator George Rawlinson.
The annual Society Soiree event took place at The Fairfields Heritage centre in Govan on the 28th September 2023. Photographs of this can be found in the news section.
If you are someone who enjoys learning about what is happening in the world around you, being introduced to new discoveries and exposed to new ideas, and are not already a member, then join us and expand your horizons!
upcoming lectures
- 02 Oct, 24Upcoming
Richard Overden
Burning the Books: knowledge under attack from Ancient Assyria to the age of AIWednesday, 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm16 Oct, 24UpcomingSir Jim Smith
How lessons from frogs help mend a broken heartWednesday, 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Previous eclectic, diverse lectures from leading figures
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See Professor Lars Chittka's talk for the society "The Mind of the Bee" from January 2021. Bees have a diverse instinctual repertoire that allows the functioning of the beehive like a smoothly oiled factory, with different workers specialising in comb construction, climate control system, defence and foraging for nectar and pollen. However, the richness of bees’ instincts has traditionally been contrasted with the notion that bees’ small brains allow little behavioural flexibility and learning behaviour.
Watch now![](https://www.royalphil.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/phillipe_sands-1.png)
When he receives an invitation to deliver a lecture in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, international lawyer Philippe Sands begins a journey on the trail of his family’s secret history. In doing so, he uncovers a series of unlikely coincidences that lead him halfway across the world, to the origins of modern international law, in the 1945 ‘moment’ and at the Nuremberg trial. ‘East West Street’: on the origins of genocide and crimes against humanity, on the individual and the group. See Prof Philippe Sands lecture for the Royal Phil.
Watch nowActive since 1802 to present day
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0n the 5th November 1802, three Glaswegian gentlemen, John Roberton, William Douglas, and Peter Nicholson, acting on behalf of a number of others in the city who were ‘interested in the prosperity of the Trades and Manufactures of their country’, and anxious for ‘the improvement of the Arts and Sciences’ ...
Find out more![](https://www.royalphil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/new-venue-image-2.png)
We started our new session in our new home in the Sir Charles Wilson Building at Glasgow University.
Learn moreMember activities
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em"><i>In March 2022, there was a very successful three day trip to York which was packed with interesting and informative visits and talks. The trip also provided an opportunity to meet with a similar organisation to ours, this being the Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS).</i></span>
See more about the tripJoin the Society
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Membership brings free access to all talks as well as other benefits. After each talk you can meet the lecturer and other society members over a glass of wine.
Membership brings free access to all talks as well as other benefits.
Learn
Listen to and participate in a wide variety of outstanding talks from our guest speakers.</p>Support
Membership supports an institution which keeps the engaging, inspiring and lively activities of the society going for the next two centuries!</p>Meet others
Meet like-minded people with a similar passion for learning and ideas.</p>Recent Lectures
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Professor Sian Harding
The exquisite machine: the new science of the heartSian Harding is Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London. She was Head of the Cardiovascular Division there, as well as Director of the British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine Centre.…
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Professor Sarah Cunningham-Burley
Towards a public bioethicsSarah Cunningham-Burley is Professor of Medical and Family Sociology at the University of Edinburgh where she is also Dean for Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences in the Medical School…
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David Edgar
All the world’s a play……David Edgar’s original plays include Destiny (1976), Maydays (1973) and a series of plays about Europe in the wake of the cold war. Like his original plays, many of his…
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Professor Hester Parr
Why we should think about the relationship between climate change and mental health in ScotlandHester Parr is Professor of Human Geography at University of Glasgow and is an award-winning Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Academy of Social Science. Her research looks at…
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Stephen Venables
Everest East Side StoryStephen Venables is a writer and mountaineer who was the first Briton to climb Mt Everest without the aid of supplementary oxygen. He is a former president of the the…
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Dr David Rosario
Back to the beginning of time; exploring the mysteries of star and galaxy formation with the James Webb Space TelescopeDr David Rosario Back to the beginning of time: exploring the mysteries of star and galaxy formation with the James Webb Space Telescope Dr David Rosario is a senior lecturer…