Julia Marton-Lefèvre, environmentalist and academic, delivers the final lecture in the 2015 Our Changing World series. This lecture is also part of our Enlightenment Lecture series. In this lecture Julia Marton-Lefèvre will compare the profound changes that took place in the 18th century European Enlightenment, emphasizing reason rather than tradition, with the need for a new enlightenment to face the stark challenges posed by an unprecedented loss of biodiversity, a rapidly changing climate...

Professor Lord Robert Winston delivers a lecture entitled Medicine, Ethics and Society.This lecture is part of the University's "Our Changing World" public lecture series, which examines the global challenges facing society, and the role of academia in meeting these challenges: http://www.ed.ac.uk/events/changing-world This lecture is also part of the University's Enlightenment Lecture series, which examines aspects of the Enlightenment's legacy in the context of our own fraught and hectic...

Professor Mary Robinson speaks on how human rights interact with the modern world. In office from 1990 to 1997, Professor Robinson was the seventh President of Ireland and the first woman to hold that role. She left to take on the position of High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations from 1997 to 2002. Human rights remain an area of interest and expertise for Professor Robinson. Since 2004 she has taught on international human rights at Columbia University in New York. In 2010...

Professor Stefan Collini re-examines the history of the activity of literary criticism and discipline of English Literature. In the 250 years since the founding of the Chair of Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres at Edinburgh University, the activity of literary criticism and discipline of English Literature have had a tangled, complex and at times uneasy, even antagonistic, relationship. This lecture will re-examine this history, focussing particularly on the question of the various publics addresed...

Broadcaster and journalist Jon Snow examines the impact of digital technology, social websites and citizen journalism on the second-oldest profession. Recorded on Friday 19 November 2010 at the University of Edinburgh's McEwan Hall. Listen to podcast

Lord Crisp discusses why health systems worldwide need to change and why the time for a new conversation is now. This lecture was recorded on 25 May 2010 in the University of Edinburgh's George Square Lecture Theatre.

Mr Hugh Cheape, Curator of the Museum of Scotland, presents a discussion seminar examining the neo-baroque strain in Scottish folk music

Dr Adam Fox presents a discussion seminar examining the 18th century street theatre.

Dr Stana Nenadic presents a discussion seminar examining the performance of sociability.

Dr Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones presents a discussion seminar examining Handel in the Orient.

Dr Stephen Lloyd presents an illustrated talk that begins to map out the web of establishment patronage in Edinburgh and Scotland that supported the prolific career of the portrait painter Sir Henry Raeburn.

For the last 20 years the focus of nutritional advice has been to reduce total fat intake and consume large amounts of carbohydrate. However, this advice is inconsistent with many lines of evidence indicating that unsaturated fats have beneficial metabolic effects and reduce risk of coronary heart disease. More recent evidence has also shown that the large majority of carbohydrates in current industrial diets, consisting of refined starches and sugars, have adverse metabolic effects and...

Language is the main channel in which human beings share the contents of their consciousness. It offers a window into human nature, revealing the hidden workings of our thoughts, our emotions, and our social relationships. In his lecture, Prof Steven Pinker will explore an example of each: everyday metaphor as a window into human cognition; swearing and taboo words as a window into human emotion; and indirect speech-veiled threats and bribes, polite requests, and sexual come-ons as a window...

Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, presents an Enlightenment Lecture, entitled European Union in the 21st Century. Jose Manuel Barroso served as Prime Minister of Portugal from April 2002 until June 2004, when he resigned to become the 11th President of the European Commission. This lecture was recorded on 28 November 2006 at the University of Edinburgh's Assembly Hall.

Dr Lawrence Klein presents an Enlightenment Lecture, entitled A Retired Shopkeeper Makes Enlightenment: Edmund Rack in Bath, 1775-1787. The Enlightenment had a large cast of characters, many of whom were humble in origin. This talk will explore the nature of Enlightenment inclusiveness through the experiences of a particular individual. Edmund Rack was a shopkeeper in East Anglia who turned himself into a man of letters and, moving to Bath in 1775, put himself at the centre of the local Bath...

Professor Tom Devine, the Sir William Fraser Chair of Scottish History and Palaeography, presents the third lecture in the Enlightenment series. Professor Devine is the author or editor of over two dozen books on topics ranging from migration, famine, identity, transatlantic commercial links, urban history, the Highlands and rural social history. Other panel members included Joyce McMillan, chief theatre critic for The Scotsman, Professor Geoffrey Boulton, Vice Principal and Regius Professor...

The University of Edinburgh Enlightenment Lecture Series with the support of ScottishPower presents Globalisation & the 21st Century Enlightenment by Joseph Stiglitz. The Principal of The University of Edinburgh, Timothy OShea said: The University is delighted to welcome Joseph Stiglitz to speak as part of our Enlightenment Lecture Series. He is one of the giants of economics, his contributions across every part of the discipline are recognised the world over. He has already played a...

Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, presented the inaugural Enlightenment Lecture, entitled The War on Terror - A War on Liberty? This was the first visit to Scotland by an Amnesty Secretary General. Irene Zubaida Khan became the organisation’s seventh Secretary General in its 40th anniversary year, 2001. Ms Khan is the first woman, the first Asian and the first Muslim to head the world’s largest human rights organisation. Recorded on 21 February 2006 at the University...

Leading geneticist Steve Jones asks 'Is Human Evolution Over?' as part of the Enlightenment Lecture Series.