Evening events, Talks & lectures, Current affairs

Jesse Schell, Distinguished Professor of Entertainment Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, and technology entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl discuss the gamification of design and its potential for widespread influence. Chaired by writer Ben Hammersley.

Professor of politics Christina Boswell talks about her research into the motivations behind the formulation of public policies.

Big Ideas presents big questions, then lets an expert have a stab at answering it before turning it to the audience for discussion. Brief, informal and relaxed, the pub-based event is open to anyone and everyone.

Borders Writers’ Forum members look to a variety of literary sources, from poetry to prose to history, for discussion on the alluring nature of Scotland.

Talks, in French, about various aspects of French culture, hosted by the Institut Français.

An evening of spirited discussion centred on how creativity and the arts has engineered change in the LGBT community. Booking is essential.

August 2012 saw the inaugural Edinburgh International Culture Summit, an event that brought together Culture Ministers and officials from over 30 nations for a series of conversations about forging international dialogue through culture. Initiated by the Edinburgh International Festival in partnership with the British…

An annual lecture that looks at the study of Natural Theology in broad terms, with the goal to advance modern theological thought.

The Internet is the greatest store of human knowledge that has ever existed. But it is also a shopping mall, a video arcade and a Pandora’s Box. Tom Standage, digital editor of The Economist, and Emily Bell, director of the Tow Centre for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, discuss the Internet’s effect on…

Author and broadcaster Paul Mason outlines the ways in which technology has enabled global protest movements and asks how the old political models of ruling and resisting are being undermined. Chaired by Professor William Sweeney. Speech-to-Text Reported event.

Psychiatrist Andrew Powell explores the ways that technology affects relationships. As depression rapidly becomes the greatest burden of illness in developed countries, he examines safeguards for emotional and spiritual well-being. Chaired by Reverend Richard Coles, writer of TV comedy Rev. Speech-to-Text Reported event.

In the face of today’s ongoing technological revolution, author and journalist Ben Hammersley examines how we must consider today what we do not know for tomorrow. Chaired by journalist Robert Dawson Scott. Speech-to-Text Reported event.

The beloved comedian, impressionist and character actor returns to Scotland to talk about books, and interview Scottish conductor and raconteur, Sir Sandy McStanley.

Professor of Communication, Arts and Religion Jolyon Mitchell hosts a discussion with historian, broadcaster and author Bettany Hughes and Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies, on the relationships between research and the media and the demands of addressing different audiences.

Jack Halberstam mines mainstream culture for its queer potential in relation to female masculinity and drag kings, anarchy, failure and chaos, here finding an emergent cultural idiom of anarchistic revolt in Jay Z and Kanye West's No Church in the Wild.

A debate on the sex trade with Rhoda Grant (Labour MSP and proposer of bill to criminalise buying sex) and Richard Lucas (of SOLAS) sparring with Laura Lee (Sex Workers' campaigner) and Douglas Fox (of the International Union of Sex Workers). Followed by a Q&A.

Contributors to Unstated: Writers On Scottish Independence talk about the impending referendum in 2014.

A series of seminars looking at how the 'voice of the people' has manifested in Scotland, from medieval times to today, presented by a variety of scholars in disciplines ranging from literature to politics. All welcome.