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 she set up the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice to advocate for and educate the world about those most affected by the changing environment, namely the world's poorest and more marginalised communities. 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 times: http://www.ed.ac.uk/about/video/lecture-series/enlightenment Recorded Tuesday 20 November 2012, at the McEwan Hall, the University of Edinburgh.