Free lectures to take place at the West Suffolk College

An exciting range of free lectures dealing with topics from privacy and surveillance on the internet to whether the British political party system can survive Brexit and the fact Monet’s actual water lillies originate from Suffolk, are being launched by the University of Suffolk at West Suffolk College.

The new monthly series, taken by academics who are experts in their subjects, will be held on a Wednesday evening between 6pm and 7pm and have been named The Edmund Lectures.

The first one in the series will take place on October 11 and deal with Surveillance and Privacy in a Changing World.

Dr Paul Bernal, a lecturer in Information Technology, Intellectual Property and Media Law at the University of East Anglia, will ask the question “How can we balance freedom and safety in the age of the internet?”

Organiser of the Edmund Lectures, Dr Julian Case, senior lecturer School of Access and Higher Education said: “We are very proud to be staging a series of lectures by speakers who are all acknowledged authorities in their field.  This is a wonderful opportunity for the University of Suffolk at West Suffolk College to make a new kind of contribution to our local community and we very much look forward to welcoming members of the public, as well as students and staff, to what will undoubtedly be an engaging and stimulating programme of talks.”

The second lecture will take place on November 8 and will be taken by Professor Peter Mandler, a Professor of Modern Cultural History at the University of Cambridge.  He will discuss “Is current education turning students off science”.

December 6 will see Robin Herne, Religious Studies and Ethics course leader at the University of Suffolk, and also a poet, asking, “What is the role of the poet in societies ancient and modern?”

Caroline Holmes, who lectures, writes and broadcasts on the history of gardens, will talk about Monet’s water lilies and their Suffolk connection on January 31.

On March 7 Professor Guido Rings, Professor of Postcolonial Studies at Anglia Ruskin University, will look at how French cinema is shaping popular opinion about migration and multiculturalism, looking particularly at cultural encounters in Kaurismaki’s Le Havre (2011).

Professor David Gill, director of Heritage Futures and professor of Archaelogical Heritage at the University of Suffolk, will look at the likely impact of Brexit on tourism and World Heritage sites in Greece.

On May 16 Dr Tom Quinn, senior lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of Essex, will ask” Can the British party political system survive Brexit?”

The final lecture in the series will be given on June 13 by Dr Lisa Jardine-Wright, from the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge.

She will ask: “How can space shrink and time expand and why does it matter? “

The Edmund Lectures will be held in the lecture theatre in Suffolk House, the university building at West Suffolk College,  Out Risbygate, Bury St Edmunds.

Further information and to register your interest available from uos@wsc.ac.uk 01284 716341.