A fixture of the College calendar since the 1980s, the Darwin College Lecture Series is a unique opportunity to hear experts in their field explore the same topic from different angles, perspectives and disciplines over an eight-week Cambridge term.

2023 organisers Professor Harry Bhadeshia and Dr David Gershlick discuss this year's theme and line-up. 

Upcoming Lectures

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2023 Lecture Series - Isolation

Jane Francis

Antarctica: isolated continent

Amy Nethery

The isolation of asylum seekers

Adrian Kent

The closeting of secrets

Christine van Ruymbeke

On escaping or not escaping solitude

Philip Jones

Isolation and trapping using optical tweezers

Arik Kershenbaum

Are we alone in the universe?

Heonik Kwon

The self-imposed isolation of North Korea

Harry Bhadeshia

Isolation of atomic mechanisms - the choreographer at play

2022 Lecture Series - Food

Bhaskar Vira

The Political Economy of Conservation and Food Security

Martin Jones

Archaeology and Discovering the Food of the Past

Melissa Calaresu

Food and Cultural History

Alex Rushmer

Food as Expression

Richard Parmee

X-Rays and Food Safety

Sarah Mukherjee

Food, Power & Society

Andrew Knight

Should Cats and Dogs Go Vegan?

Sarah Bridle

Food and Climate Change

Past Lectures

Claire Roddie

Battle Blood

Sara Read

Transitional Bleeding in Early Modern England

Tim Pedley

Blood in Motion: The Physics of Blood Flow

Carol Senf

Dracula, Vampires and the New Woman

Rose George

Blood Villains and Heroes

Walter Bodmer

Bloodlines of the British

Marc Quinn

Blood Sculptures

Sean Carroll

Mysteries of Modern Physics”

Jo Marchant

Decoding the Heavens: The Antikythera Mechanism

Tiffany Watt Smith

The Enigma of Emotion

Erik Kwakkel

The Enigmatic Premodern Book

Tamsin Mather

Eruptions, Emissions and Enigmas: from fuming volcanic vents to mass extinction events”

Albert Yu-Min Lin

Archaeological Mysteries

Watch all past lectures

Since 1986, the Darwin College Lecture Series has provided an important annual contribution to Cambridge's intellectual conversation. Watch or listen to previous lectures via the following services.