Embedded Files
11th February 2026
European Deserts:
Sandy Wilderness on a Green Continent
Based on his latest book environmentalist and author Chris Stone MIEnvSci will be talking about the untold story of the little-known deserts of Europe. These are sandy and infertile lowland wildernesses, where extreme environmental conditions are the norm. Remote and mostly uninhabited, Europe’s arid tracts present landscapes differing profoundly from their surroundings and offer refuge for scarce flora and fauna with nowhere else to go.
For long these wastelands were poverty-stricken and many had reputations as undesirable and even dangerous places. Unglamorous and frequently undervalued, the survival of the remaining fragments including several local examples is threatened despite their distinctive biodiversity, landscapes and fascinating human tales.
This talk will transform ideas about these extraordinary European landscapes.
14th January 2026
Applied Performance Science:
Real-World Problem Solving in Elite Sport and Dance
Dr. Jamie Tallent from the School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences at the University of Essex will present examples of how we tackle complex performance questions across multiple sectors, from managing rehearsal load in ballet and optimising bat speed in cricket.
These case studies show how we combine scientific methods to drive evidence-based solutions that reduce injury and enhance performance.
10th December 2025
Finding Shelter in the Storm:
The Power (and Fragility) of Trust
When life feels uncertain, many of us turn to the people we love for comfort and stability. But relationships don’t automatically protect us from life’s storms — they only become a true shelter when built on trust.
In this talk, Dr Veronica Lamarche from the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex explores how our connections with others can serve as powerful psychological buffers against stress and insecurity, and why trust — both in others and in ourselves — is the key ingredient.
Drawing on insights from relationship science and social-personality psychology, Veronica will discuss how experiences with others—real or imagined—shape our ability to depend on each other, why some people struggle to feel safe even in loving relationships, and what science suggests about creating the kind of closeness that truly sustains us when the world feels unpredictable.
19th November 2025
Not Just For Sailors Any More:
The Untold History of Tattooing
Tattooing, we've been told again and again recently, is coming of age - finally coming out of the murky shadows of the deviant underworld to leave its mark on the most well-heeled. Tattoos are now to be seen on catwalks, on trading floors and around the chicest tables. The popular media has been reporting the arrival of tattooing in high society for nearly one hundred and fifty years. Indeed, in 1926, Vanity Fair reported that “tattooing has passed from the savage to the sailor, from the sailor to the landsman, and is now to be found beneath many a tailored shirt”.
In this talk, Dr. Matt Lodder Senior Lecturer in Art History and Theory at the University of Essex will discuss the long history of professional tattooing in the Western world, and ask why this ancient art always seems to feel so confusingly new.
Podcast: https://thomasomahonymedia.podbean.com/
Matt Lodder's book: - The Untold History of a Modern Art https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300269390/tattoos/ (use promo code FIFTY)
Matt's first book is called ‘Painted People’, available on Amazon and all good bookshops.
14th January 2026
Applied Performance Science:
Real-World Problem Solving in Elite Sport and Dance
Dr. Jamie Tallent from the School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences at the University of Essex will present examples of how we tackle complex performance questions across multiple sectors, from managing rehearsal load in ballet and optimising bat speed in cricket.
These case studies show how we combine scientific methods to drive evidence-based solutions that reduce injury and enhance performance.
10th December 2025
Finding Shelter in the Storm:
The Power (and Fragility) of Trust
When life feels uncertain, many of us turn to the people we love for comfort and stability. But relationships don’t automatically protect us from life’s storms — they only become a true shelter when built on trust.
In this talk, Dr Veronica Lamarche from the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex explores how our connections with others can serve as powerful psychological buffers against stress and insecurity, and why trust — both in others and in ourselves — is the key ingredient.
Drawing on insights from relationship science and social-personality psychology, Veronica will discuss how experiences with others—real or imagined—shape our ability to depend on each other, why some people struggle to feel safe even in loving relationships, and what science suggests about creating the kind of closeness that truly sustains us when the world feels unpredictable.
19th November 2025
Not Just For Sailors Any More:
The Untold History of Tattooing
Tattooing, we've been told again and again recently, is coming of age - finally coming out of the murky shadows of the deviant underworld to leave its mark on the most well-heeled. Tattoos are now to be seen on catwalks, on trading floors and around the chicest tables. The popular media has been reporting the arrival of tattooing in high society for nearly one hundred and fifty years. Indeed, in 1926, Vanity Fair reported that “tattooing has passed from the savage to the sailor, from the sailor to the landsman, and is now to be found beneath many a tailored shirt”.
In this talk, Dr. Matt Lodder Senior Lecturer in Art History and Theory at the University of Essex will discuss the long history of professional tattooing in the Western world, and ask why this ancient art always seems to feel so confusingly new.
Podcast: https://thomasomahonymedia.podbean.com/
Matt Lodder's book: - The Untold History of a Modern Art https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300269390/tattoos/ (use promo code FIFTY)
Matt's first book is called ‘Painted People’, available on Amazon and all good bookshops.
15th October 2025
How sex determination works in humans:
it's more than just chromosomes
Many people have heard that males and females have different chromosomes: XX and XY.
But why do they have different chromosomes, and how does this then lead to male or female development?
In this talk given by Dr. Benjamin Skinner from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Essex we will explore the messy reality of how sex is determined - and how biological sex is not the simple binary we sometimes assume.
Further Information can be found on the following websites: -
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