University of Cambridge

Many extremist ideologies rely heavily on conspiracy theories to explain how the world works and where power lies. This lecture explores what our understanding of conspiracy theories – where they come from, how they work, who believes in them – can tell us about dealing with extremism. The US presidential election campaign showed that conspiracy theories are increasingly becoming part of the curre...

Distributions that are dominated by extremes and tail events require a completely different way of thinking. We provide a classification and show where conventional statistical tools fail, such as the conventional law of large numbers. We show how robust statistics is not robust at all; how frequency-based forecasting fails and how past averages misrepresent future ones. We show implications for d...

Much contemporary discussion around feminism concentrates on how to get more women into positions of power and prestige, whether in academia, politics or business. Lorna Finlayson argues that in order to represent all women, feminists must do better.

The past year, 2016, was the warmest globally in records stretching back to 1850. The second warmest year was 2015 and the third warmest 2014. In recent years we have seen weather records being broken more and more often with severe heatwaves, floods and other extreme weather around the world. The risk of some of these extreme weather events has been shown to have increased as a consequence of cli...

Speaking as part of the University of Cambridge's 'Brexit Week' - which took place from 18 to 22 October 2016 - Anand Menon gives his response to the discussion topic of 'The UK and Brexit: How, why and where now?'. Professor Anand Menon is a Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King’s College London, and Director of the UK in a Changing Europe initiative.

Speaking as part of the University of Cambridge's 'Brexit Week' - which took place from 18 to 22 October 2016 - Jonathan Portes gives his response to the discussion topic of 'The UK and Brexit: How, why and where now?'. Jonathan Portes is a Principal Research Fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, and a Senior Fellow of UK in a Changing Europe initiative. Previously, he...

Speaking as part of the University of Cambridge's 'Brexit Week' - which took place from 18 to 22 October 2016 - Catherine Barnard gives her response to the discussion topic of 'The UK and Brexit: How, why and where now?'. Professor Catherine Barnard is a Professor of European Union Law and Employment Law at the Faculty of Law, and a Fellow and Senior Tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge, She is als...

Speaking as part of the University of Cambridge's 'Brexit Week' - which took place from 18 to 22 October 2016 - Matthew Elliott gives his response to the discussion topic of 'The UK and Brexit: How, why and where now?'. Matthew Elliott is the former Chief Executive of the Vote Leave campaign, now Editor-at-Large of BrexitCentral. He was a founder and former Chief Executive of the political think t...

Speaking as part of the University of Cambridge's 'Brexit Week' - which took place from 18 to 22 October 2016 - Mark Elliott gives his response to the discussion topic of 'Process and Politics of the UK Leaving the EU'. Professor Mark Elliott is a Professor of Public Law at the Faculty of Law, and Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge.

Speaking as part of the University of Cambridge's 'Brexit Week' - which took place from 18 to 22 October 2016 - Charles Clarke gives his response to the discussion topic of 'Key Issues for UK and EU Post-Brexit'. Charles Clarke is a former Home Secretary and a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute of Kings College London. He was MP for Norwich South from 1997 to 2010, and served as Home Secre...

Speaking as part of the University of Cambridge's 'Brexit Week' - which took place from 18 to 22 October 2016 - Coen Teulings gives his response to the discussion topic of 'Key Issues for UK and EU Post-Brexit'. Professor Coen Teulings is the Montague Burton Chair of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations, Faculty of Economics, Cambridge.

Speaking as part of the University of Cambridge's 'Brexit Week' - which took place from 18 to 22 October 2016 - Chris Bickerton gives his response to the question 'How Did We Get Here?' Dr Chris Bickerton is a University Lecturer in Politics at POLIS and Official Fellow at Queens’ College, Cambridge. He recently published a book called The European Union: A Citizen’s Guide. He publicly supported a...

Speaking as part of the University of Cambridge's 'Brexit Week' - which took place from 18 to 22 October 2016 - Robert Tombs gives his response to the question 'How Did We Get Here?' Robert Tombs is a Professor of Modern European History, Faculty of History and Fellow at St John’s College, Cambridge. He was a signatory on a letter from 'Historians for Britain', a campaign group that supported a Le...

It’s 30 years since the most dramatic of the superpower summits: Reagan and Gorbachev at Reykjavik. David Reynolds, Faculty of History, and Kristina Spohr, London School of Economics, draw on their new book Transcending the Cold War to bring alive the personalities and the arguments. Was this, they ask, the great missed opportunity of the nuclear age?

In an age of anti-establishment thinking, is the process of overthrowing elites and creating new ones speeding up? Are we in for a period of perpetual distrust and is this a good thing? Join John Naughton, Beatrix Campbell, Kieron O'Hara and Samantha Asumadu as they discuss what it means to be anti-establishment. Chaired by Kiri Kankhwende.

What kinds of spaces are formed when the movement of displaced people is suspended? Controlled refugee camps and detention centres, alongside makeshift encampments and spontaneous settlements, manifest the various spatial expressions of the global control over movement. This debate explores the spaces of displacement, suspension and refuge created in and beyond the current 'migration crisis'.

Speaking as part of the University of Cambridge's 'Brexit Week' - which took place from 18 to 22 October 2016 - Athene Donald gives her response to the discussion topic of 'Key Issues for UK and EU Post-Brexit'. Professor Athene Donald is a Professor of Experimental Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory and the Master of Churchill College, Cambridge. She publicly supported a Remain vote in the run-u...

Speaking as part of the University of Cambridge's 'Brexit Week' - which took place from 18 to 22 October 2016 - Victoria Bateman gives her response to the question 'How Did We Get Here?' Dr Victoria Bateman is a Director of Studies, Fellow and College Lecturer in Economics at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. She publicly argued for a Remain vote in the run-up to the Referendum.

Does the development of new digital technologies and instant access to the internet provide new opportunities or present new dangers? How can good journalism thrive in these new circumstances? With Jane Singer, Mary Fitzgerald, Roxane Farmanfarmaian and Luke Lewis. Chaired by journalist Julian Clover.

What lessons have we learnt from the financial crisis of 2008? Are we on the brink of yet another global collapse? Is it time to start thinking about economics rather differently? Join experts Ha-Joon Chang, Victoria Bateman, Kamal Munir and Vicky Pryce for a discussion. Chaired by Helen Joyce, The Economist.

The Earth's climate has changed throughout its history. So what's so special about now and what can we learn from past climate change? Join a panel of experts as we discuss the past, present and future of this global issue. With Douglas Crawford, Rachel Reckin, Victoria Herrmann and Ben Caldecott. Chaired by Chris Smith, Naked Scientists.

Mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare by discussing his relevance today. Beyond the Elizabethan theatre and around the world, what, if anything, can we still learn from the Bard? With Preti Taneja, Paul Edmondson, Edward Wilson-Lee and Emma Whipday. Chaired by Adrian Poole, University of Cambridge.

Contrary to popular notions of atheism as a product of the Enlightenment, Professor Tim Whitmarsh argues that it was a matter of serious public debate as early as in the classical Greek world. Discover the stories of those who first refused the divinities and find out more about the origins of the secular values at the heart of the modern state.

In a world where too often, it seems, only the economy matters, Fiona Reynolds argues that beauty should shape our lives. Dame Fiona is Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and was formerly Director-General of The National Trust.

The internet used to be an open road, with unrestricted access and use, based very much on trust and community values. Join panellists from Cambridge University's Computer Lab as they discuss recent developments, bumps and obstacles as we traverse down this open road. Most people that used Email are aware of the rapid rise of spam, rendering it almost useless for many uses where reliability is ess...