Open Lectures 2023/24
The Centre for Open Learning's Open Lecture series will be back later in the year. Our previous open lectures recordings are below if you want to catch-up or re-watch any.
Open Lectures are back at COL!
Last year’s Open Lectures were enjoyed by so many, we decided to bring you some more - stay tuned for this seasons' schedule.
With such a diverse range of Short Courses, our colleagues have designed a range of exciting Open Lectures, offering you the chance to get a taste for a subject area you have an interest in.
And the best thing is – they’re completely FREE to join!
Dr John Gordon, Teaching Fellow in Philosophy and Humanities
Wednesday 18 October 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
2023 marks the tricentennial of Adam Smith, who was born in Kirkcaldy in 1723. Smith is widely regarded as one of the most important intellectuals that Scotland has ever produced. His legacy is principally with regard to his economic thought and he is often referred to as ‘The Father of Modern Economics’.
Smith’s thought is often associated with the Thatcher revolution of the 1980s - but this is contested. In this lecture Smith’s enduring influence in economics, politics, philosophy and the arts will be discussed.
Chris Smith, Head of English Language Pre-Sessional at the Centre for Open Learning
Wednesday 15 November 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
This lecture will provide an overview of how the capacity for language evolved in humans. It will consider philosophical and linguistic approaches to understanding the nature of language and will analyise how people learn language.
This exploration will lead us to a model where we see language not as a system of words and grammar but as communication between humans.
Dr Thomas Bak, University of Edinburgh, School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences
Monday 4 December 2023 (18:00-19:15)| Free | Venue: Godfrey Thompson Hall
What’s the point of learning languages in the age of automatic translation? Doesn’t everybody speak English anyway? And, if we really have to learn a language, what’s the best method, leading quickly to perfect mastery, with as little effort as possible?
Drawing on Thomas' experience as a cognitive neurologist, as well as an avid language learner, this lecture will question the implicit assumptions made about language learning. Are languages really just about communication? Is learning them always a burden? Should we make everything as easy as possible or can effort be a good thing? And can you fall in love with a grammar?!
Dr Judith Blair, Teaching Fellow
Wednesday 6 December 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
Are there monsters in the Bible? One would not necessarily associate the two, however, as Jewish and Christian biblical traditions are closely related to the cultures of their ancient neighbours, the answer to this question is 'yes'; there are surprisingly many.
Leviathan and Behemoth from the Book of Job are two of the best known biblical monsters; they resurface time and time again even in modern horror culture. Then there are monsters in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Revelation.
This lecture will explore the religious background of these monsters and their 'afterlife' in later popular imaginations.
Cole Bendall, Teaching Fellow & Course Organiser in Music
Wednesday 17 January 2024 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
Undertale is a universally acclaimed 2D role-playing game that was created by American indie developer Toby Fox in 2015. It has been lauded for a design style inspired by the visuals and music of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The Undertale soundtrack has received particular attention for the use of leitmotifs (small motives). A leitmotif is a repeating melodic phrase in music that is used to represent a character, setting, emotion or theme. In Undertale the leitmotifs also transform in response to player choices throughout the game.
This lecture illustrates the popularity of the leitmotif as a mode of musical composition since the era of Wagnerian opera, its common parlance in music of the mass media age, and Toby Fox’s creative uses of the technique in Undertale.
From A Distance: Can remote art collaborations change our sense of local spaces and places? (Online)
Deirdre Macleod, Lecturer in Art and Design - Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh and Christopher Kaczmarek, Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Art, Montclair State University, New Jersey, U.S.
Wednesday 21 February 2024 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
Artists Deirdre Macleod and Christopher Kaczmarek met for the first time during COVID lockdown. They began to collaborate remotely on artistic projects in which they jointly explored the urban spaces in which they live and work.
Over the past six months, they have used walking, film and creative writing to explore their localities, slowly, at small scale and in fine grain.
Their lecture will discuss how they use interdisciplinary artistic methods to create hybrid, imaginary places which combine projection and projection with partial and selective images of the spaces through which each artist walked.
The lecture will begin with a presentation of their short (8 minute) film, everyone welcome.
Dr Vangelis Chiotis, Teaching Fellow in Economics
Tuesday 26 March 2024 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
Economics is about the production, consumption, and distribution of goods and services. This lecture explores the concept that economics is a social contract - a set of rules that determine social behaviour.
It will consider how the social contract is defined by its participants, the established rules and the rationale for following these rules. This lecture will look at how economic theory is better than traditional contract theory at identifying these characteristics because its mathematically-based approach leads to unambiguous results. An example of this is how the law of supply and demand objectively determines a unique market price, and hence, it bypasses the need to agree on a contentious ‘fair price.'
Dr Nicky Melville, Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing
Tuesday 30 April 2024 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
Teaching Fellow Dr Nicky Melville is an experimental, or avant-garde, poet of many stripes: appropriation, visual and process poetry, and lyric-experiment. Generally speaking, experimental writing is looked down on by the poetry mainstream as not 'proper poetry'. However, Nicky's writing and research has helped him to realise that so called avant-garde writing is often not as ‘avant’ as all that.
Contemporary ‘innovations’ can actually be found in old texts, from late-antiquity to late Middle Ages. In this lecture Nicky will explore experimental poetry and its links to the past and consider how this raises the question of what work is accepted into the canon and how it allows for an expansive and engaging way to teach students innovative writing.
Past Lectures
Dr Mohamad Janaby - Teaching Fellow in Law
Wednesday 21 September 2022 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
(Explore relevant courses)
Does the use of force to maintain international peace and security still work? The current situation in Ukraine would suggest not, however this open lecture will explore the regime, its mechanisms and any possible solutions that should be internationally adopted to maintain international peace and security.
David Wingrove | Tuesday 25 October 2022 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
Teaching Fellow in Film Studies, Literature and Opera
(Explore relevant courses)
Take three of the great foundational works of Gothic fiction – Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson...and join us to explore the ways an artificially created being – the creature, the portrait, the secret alter ego – becomes a dark and forbidden ‘shadow self’ for the tortured male protagonist. Tracing these stories through their influence on popular culture and film, we will examine how three 19th century authors anticipated (or even surpassed) the work of 20th and 21st century psychologists.
Dr John Gordon | Wednesday 30 November 2022 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
Teaching Fellow in Philosophy and Humanities -
(Explore relevant courses)
Commentators have alluded to 'the Scottish divided self'. What does it mean to be a divided self - and is this a characteristically Scottish condition? In this lecture John Gordon will draw on the work of Adam Smith, James Hogg, RL Stevenson, Muriel Spark, RD Laing and others in an attempt to answer these questions.
Dr Reena Sastri | Thursday 9 February 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
Teaching Fellow in Literature & Cultural Studies
(Explore relevant courses)
Do you love poetry? Do you love love? Then this open lecture is for you! You will explore how poetry’s distinctive characteristics—rhyme, soundplay, pacing, metaphor, and in particular address to a ‘you’—make space for complexity of feeling and reciprocity between lover and beloved.
You do not need any prior knowledge to join this lecture and discussion will be very much encouraged!
Cole Bendall | Thursday 23 February 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
Teaching Fellow in Music
(Explore relevant courses)
As part of the Estonian identity and culture, the country has embraced singing. With a history of occupation and a fight for independence and self-determination, choral singing was used as a means of expressing group identity, including movements and composers that were in favour of Soviet values (at least on a surface level), and those who were vehemently against the Soviet occupation.
Drawing upon his recent doctoral research, in this lecture Cole Bendall (Teaching Fellow in Music) provides an illustrative introductions to issues in 20th century Estonian composition and culture, profiles major composers such as Arvo Pärt and Veljo Tormis, and provides a critical assessment of the role choirs played – and continue to play – in the framework of forming Estonian national identities.
Jon Place | Thursday 9 March 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
Teaching Fellow in Arts and Humanities -
(Explore relevant courses)
Did you know comics are over 100 years old?! We certainly know how popular they have become over the last century - from American Superheroes to Japanese Manga and everything in between.
But how did comics, the so-called 9th art, evolve into what they are today? And in which direction they will go in the future? Explore the weird and wonderful word of experimental comics at this intriguing Open Lecture!
Dr Morna Finnegan| Thursday 23 March 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
Teaching Fellow in Social Anthropology
(Explore relevant courses)
What drives the extraordinary human capacity for empathy? What generates our interest in sharing and caring? Using evidence from a variety of hunter-gatherer cultures across Africa and Amazonia as case studies, this lecture will explore alternative models for the development of morality, beyond political systems based on socially dictated punishment.
What lessons can we learn from the Mbendjele about our current relationships with power? Find out by joining this fascinating Open Lecture!
David Wingrove | Thursday 4 November 2021 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE
How has our myth of the vampire changed – in the space of just 200 years – from an object of revulsion and terror to an icon of erotic and pop cultural obsession? How did we get from the ancient vampire lore of Europe and the Middle East to the glitzy superstar images of Anne Rice and Twilight? Drawing on literature and painting, film and TV, this one-hour lecture will trace the Undead from their mythological roots all the way to the vampires we know and love today.
Watch the Bloody Marvellous! The Vampire as a Cultural Icon recording here:
Dr Brian McGrail | Thursday 09 December 2021 (19:00-20:15) | Free | ONLINE
How relevant is the work of Adam Smith and Karl Marx to the 21st century? On the basis of ‘textbook’ or popularised accounts one would be forced to conclude ‘not very’! But are such accounts accurate and, therefore, fair? Using a number of contemporary examples, this lecture will question widely-accepted ideas about the work of Smith and Marx, and highlight inaccuracies by returning to the original writings. The path is then cleared for a thorough reassessment.
Pushpi Bagchi | Thursday 20 January 2022 (19:00-20:15) | Free | ONLINE
The discipline of Design is generally understood to have evolved with mass manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. This narrative offers one perspective on the evolution of Design as a discipline and culture, specifically, a Eurocentric one. By navigating my experiences of studying, researching, and practising design across Britain, India, and Sri Lanka, alongside current discussions to decolonise Design, this talk visually reflects on what it might mean to develop a hybrid design practice.
- Video: Open Lecture Series - Developing a Hybrid Design Practice
- Open Lecture Series - Developing a Hybrid Design Practice
From Deep Time to the Capitalocene: Sediments, Soils, and the Geoarchaeology of Inhabited Landscapes
Nikolaos Kourampas | Thursday 10 February 2022 (19:00-20:15) | Free | ONLINE
Dr John Gordon | Thursday 24 March 2022 (19:00-20:15) | Free | ONLINE
Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Greed, Sloth and Pride are the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’.
Where did this list of sins originate? How have these sins functioned in European culture - and why do they continue to fascinate in our secular times?
In this lecture John Gordon will attempt to answer these questions.
Recording will be available soon