The Centre for Open Learning's Open Lecture Series is back for the autumn and winter season 24/25. 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! 2024/25 LecturesEmbrace Your Writing Journey (Online)Caroline Dunford, Teaching Fellow in Creative WritingTuesday 5 November 2024 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE (Explore relevant courses)To celebrate the start of National Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), join Caroline Dunford, an accomplished author, as she shares her insights into the life of a professional writer.With more than 30 books to her name across various genres, Caroline will offer practical tips and advice on how to embark on your own writing journey, discuss the challenges of the competitive literary world and answer any questions you might have.Watch the Embrace Your Writing Journey recordingThe Intangible World of Blue (Online)Karen Clulow, Teaching Fellow in ArtMonday 20 January 2025 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE (Explore relevant courses)Blue Monday is said to be the most depressing day of the year due to the gloomy weather and post-Christmas slump often associated with the third Monday in January...Let expert sculptor, artist and designer Karen Clulow take you on a visual journey around the world of blue to enlighten and lift your spirits this 20 January.This talk will concentrate on the colour blue both in art and in the world around us from work life to nature – while exploring the conscious and subconscious impact that colour has on the many different levels of our being.Watch the recording - The Intangible World of Blue lectureAn Introduction to Gaelic: The Celtic Language of Scotland (Online)Rona Wilkie, Teaching Fellow in Gaelic27 February 2025 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE (Explore relevant courses)In honour of Gaelic Week Edinburgh, join COL Teaching Fellow and Gaelic speaker Rona Wilkie for an introduction to the ancient Scottish language, its speakers and the importance of the language today.One of the three national languages of Scotland, alongside Scots and English, Gaelic is a member of the Celtic language family and is closely related to Irish and Manx.This session will delve into the historical and cultural significance of the Gaels while touching on Gaelic’s unique linguistic aspects. You’ll also learn some useful phrases to put to use in future!Book your place on the Introduction to Gaelic lecture 2023/24 Lectures Adam Smith and his Enduring Significance (Online)Dr John Gordon, Teaching Fellow in Philosophy and Humanities Wednesday 18 October 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE (Explore relevant courses)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.Watch the RecordingThe Evolution of Language (Online)Chris Smith, Head of English Language Pre-Sessional at the Centre for Open LearningWednesday 15 November 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE (Explore relevant courses)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 analyse 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.Watch the Recording How to Love Learning Languages (In-person)Dr Thomas Bak, University of Edinburgh, School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences Monday 4 December 2023 (18:00-19:15)| Free | Venue: Godfrey Thompson HallWhat’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?!There will be a short reception after the lecture and Q&A.Watch the RecordingMonsters in the Bible (Online)Dr Judith Blair, Teaching FellowWednesday 6 December 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE (Explore relevant courses)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.Watch the RecordingToby Fox's video game Undertale and the Leitmotif (Online)Cole Bendall, Teaching Fellow & Course Organiser in MusicWednesday 17 January 2024 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE (Explore relevant courses) 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.Watch the Recording 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 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.Watch the RecordingEconomics as a Social Contract (Online)Dr Vangelis Chiotis, Teaching Fellow in EconomicsTuesday 26 March 2024 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE (Explore relevant courses)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.'Watch the Recording COPY THAT! (Online)Nicky Melville, Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing Tuesday 30 April 2024 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINE (Explore relevant courses)Teaching Fellow 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.Watch the Recording Older Past LecturesCurrent Challenges of the Law of War: A Chance for Peace?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.Watch the Recording Demons, Doubles and Dark Companions: The self and 'the other' in Gothic Literature and FilmDavid Wingrove | Tuesday 25 October 2022 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINETeaching 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. Watch the Recording The Scottish Divided SelfDr John Gordon | Wednesday 30 November 2022 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINETeaching 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. Watch the Recording >Reading List > Love in PoetryDr Reena Sastri | Thursday 9 February 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINETeaching 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! Watch the Recording Singing the Nation: Choral Music in Estonia Under Soviet OccupationCole Bendall | Thursday 23 February 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINETeaching 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. Watch the Recording Weird narratives: Experimental illustration and comicsJon Place | Thursday 9 March 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINETeaching 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! Watch the Recording Corporeal Morality: Hunter-Gatherers and the Anthropology of PowerDr Morna Finnegan| Thursday 23 March 2023 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINETeaching 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! Watch the Recording Bloody Marvellous! The Vampire as a Cultural Icon (Past)David Wingrove | Thursday 4 November 2021 (19:00-20:15)| Free | ONLINEHow 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: HTML Ripping up the Textbook: Smith and Marx in the Age of Pandemic and Climate Emergency (Past)Dr Brian McGrail | Thursday 09 December 2021 (19:00-20:15) | Free | ONLINEHow 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. Developing a Hybrid Design PracticePushpi Bagchi | Thursday 20 January 2022 (19:00-20:15) | Free | ONLINEThe 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. From Deep Time to the Capitalocene: Sediments, Soils, and the Geoarchaeology of Inhabited LandscapesNikolaos Kourampas | Thursday 10 February 2022 (19:00-20:15) | Free | ONLINEHuman societies, with their companion species, technologies, ideologies and socio-political systems, have mediated sediment deposition, soil formation, and landscape change since the emergence of our species. This mediation has intensified dramatically in the last five centuries, as capitalism expanded from its European cradle to engulf the entire earth system in its webs of accelerating extraction, commodity production, consumption, and discard. As archives of the complex interactions that constitute the landscape, sediments and soils can offer unique insights into the history of inhabited landscapes and human ecological conditions. Drawing from geoarchaeological work and perspectives from the environmental humanities, this talk will explore some of these insights. HTML The Seven Deadly SinsDr John Gordon | Thursday 24 March 2022 (19:00-20:15) | Free | ONLINEWrath, 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 Publication date 20 Dec, 2018
