Talks

Ben Machell uncovers the archives of psychic researcher Tony Cornell and his investigations into ghosts, poltergeists and psychic powers. Between 1950 and 2010 he became perhaps the world's most prolific investigator of psychic phenomena and paranormal events. Ben will be in conversation with artist and researcher Sarah Sparkes.

Brockway Room | Virtual event

Who are the migrants? Do they steal our jobs? Do border controls improve security? Are open borders desirable? Through empirical research including original surveys and interviews, Leila Simona Talani and Matilde Rosina suggest new thinking to the migration question.

Brockway Room | Virtual event

Whether a sceptic or paranormal enthusiast, we all know a haunted house when we see one. From Medieval Scotland to Enlightenment-era London; Victorian suburbs to pre-Civil War Louisiana, Caitlin Blackwell-Baines will explore the particular features, contexts and histories that lend a building the dreaded identity of a haunted house.

Brockway Room | Virtual event

A powerful examination of changing attitudes towards people with disabilities of all kinds and their fight for human rights and dignities. Join campaigners, and authors, Rachel Charlton-Dailey and Stephen Unwin in conversation on disability rights in history and today.

Brockway Room | Virtual event

Horror has been embraced by mainstream pop culture, with horror characters and aesthetics infecting TV, music videos and TikTok trends. Anna Bogutskaya dispels the notion that there is something wrong with enjoying horror by examining how horror responds to, and fuels, our feelings of fear, anxiety, pain and power.

Brockway Room | Virtual event

For years, the romcom has been defined by its reinforcement of patriarchal notions of love and relationships. Author and journalist Lizzie Frainier asks whether romcoms can prepare us for the good, the bad and the disconcerting of navigating relationships today.

Brockway Room | Virtual event

Why do women who outearn their male partners still do more housework and childcare? Science journalist Melissa Hogenboom interviewed dozens of female breadwinners, stay-at-home dads and same-sex couples, to show how the closer we look, the easier it is to see the influence of power structures all around us.

Brockway Room | Virtual event

What was life really like for women in the ancient and medieval periods? How did they think about sex, death and God? Could they live independent lives? And how can we hear their stories? Join historians Hetta Howes and Daisy Dunn as they reveal some extraordinary women of the past.

Brockway Room | Virtual event

Whose claws are scratching at the church door? What’s that ghost tumbling over the moor? Who’s that figure cut into the earth? What can I do to lift this curse? Join us for a lengendary trip through the Haunted Landscape at London Fortean Society’s day of expert talks on British ghosts, magic and folklore.

In person | Virtual event

What do #MeToo and Jane Austen have in common? More than you might think. Dr Zoë McGee reveals how Jane Austen, Frances Burney and their now-overlooked contemporaries used their stories to try to change society's mind about sexual coercion - and to reassure survivors they were not alone.

Brockway Room | Virtual event

How does the pop culture machine both mirror and magnify the worst aspects of human nature? As debates rage on about abusive public figures, Vanessa Kisuule asks how this moral conundrum informs the way we shape our relationships, families and notions of social justice.

Brockway Room | Virtual event