This lecture focuses on experiences of hiding and help during the Holocaust across Europe, including the German Reich itself, to highlight the significance of surrounding societies for the survival of Jews. In a broad comparative analysis, going beyond a focus on individual rescuers and getting away from generalisations about supposed ‘national characteristics’, Mary Fulbrook illuminates how local power structures and sense of community shaped non-Jewish responses to antisemitic policies, and affected the choices, experiences and chances of Jews attempting to evade persecution in different regions during the war. 

This lecture was recorded by Mary Fulbrook on the 18th of May 2026

A graduate of Cambridge and Harvard universities, Mary Fulbrook is Professor of German History at University College London (UCL) and a Fellow of the British Academy. Her current research is on rescue and survival across Europe during the Holocaust.

She is the author or editor of some 29  books, including Bystander Society: Conformity and Complicity in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust (2023); the Wolfson History Prize-winner Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and the Quest for Justice (2018); and the Fraenkel Prize-winning A Small Town near Auschwitz: Ordinary Nazis and the Holocaust (2012), as well as, most recently, Ten Moments that shaped Berlin (2025) and, edited with Jürgen Matthäus, The Cambridge History of the Holocaust Vol. 2: Perpetrating the Holocaust: Policies, Participants, Places (2025).

One of her major research areas has been the GDR, on which she wrote Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR, 1949-89 (OUP, 1995) and The People’s State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker (Yale UP, 2005). Dissonant Lives: Generations and Violence through the German Dictatorships (OUP, 2011; 2 vols. 2017) traces distinctive generational experiences across this traumatic century, from before World War One until after German unification in 1990.  She has also written on German National Identity after the Holocaust (Polity Press, 1999) and Historical Theory (Routledge, 2002). More general books include A Concise History of Germany (CUP, 3rd edn. 2018) and A History of Germany 1918-2020: The Divided Nation (Blackwell, 5th edn 2021). She has directed a series of AHRC-funded interdisciplinary research projects, and is currently directing a collaborative project funded by the AHRC and the German Research Foundation (DFG) jointly with Prof. Christina Morina of Bielefeld University.

Service to UCL includes five years as Dean of the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences, and a dozen years as Head of the German Department. Among wider professional commitments, Mary Fulbrook serves on numerous academic advisory boards concerned with Holocaust history and representation, including the USHMM Academic Committee, the Academic Advisory Board of the Foundation for the former Nazi Concentration Camps at Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora, and the Editorial Advisory Board of Yad Vashem Studies. She has previously served as Chair of the Modern History Section of the British Academy, Chair of the German History Society, and she was Founding Joint Editor of German History.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/society-and-survival-during-holocaust

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Music and biology are profoundly entwined. The heart beats, footsteps fall into familiar tempi, and even the movement of our limbs follows a natural rhythmic hierarchy—as if we shape music in our image. The rise and fall of breath, the cadence of laughter, and the wail of a cry all carry musical gestures, woven into our being. Yet our bodies do not just dictate music—they respond to it, from calming stress to thrilling chills. Beyond this, the biological world itself pulses with music: DNA sequences become melody, disease growth swells into an orchestral crescendo, and a hidden music emerges from within us.

This lecture was recorded by Milton Mermikides on the 13th May 2026 at LSO St Lukes

Milton Mermikides is a composer, guitarist, technologist, academic and educator in a wide range of musical styles and has collaborated with artists and scientists as diverse as Evelyn Glennie, Tim Minchin, Pat Martino, Peter Zinovieff, John Williams and Brian Eno. Son of a CERN nuclear physicist, he was raised with an enthusiasm for both the arts and sciences, an eclecticism which has been maintained throughout his teaching, research and creative career. 

He is a graduate of the London School of Economics (BSc), Berklee College of Music (BMus) and the University of Surrey (PhD). He has lectured, exhibited and given keynote presentations at organisations like the Royal Academy of Music, TEDx, Royal Musical Association, British Library, Smithsonian Institute and The Science Museum and his work has been featured extensively in the press. His music, research and graphic art are published and featured by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony and more, and he has won awards, scholarships and commendations for writing, teaching, research and his charity work.      

Milton is Professor of Music at the University of Surrey, Professor of Guitar at the Royal College of Music, Deputy Director of the International Guitar Research Centre, an Ableton Certified Trainer, and lives in London with his wife, the guitarist Bridget Mermikides and their daughter Chloe. He is also a Vice-Chair of Governors at Addison Primary School, a state school which foregrounds music education, offering free instrumental lessons for all on Pupil Premium. 

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/music-body

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today
 
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Modern medicine's success in extending lifespans comes at an environmental cost. This lecture explores the pollution from single-use plastics, pharmaceuticals and medical waste, questioning whether we can sustain this model. It examines the impact of drugs and their metabolites on ecosystems, the carbon footprint of healthcare and the ethical dilemma of balancing individual health with planetary health. This talk explores potential solutions, including green pharmacy, innovative materials and responsible waste management, asking if a future with both healthy aging and a thriving planet is achievable.

This lecture was recorded by Ian Mudway on the 12th of May 2026 at Bernard’s Inn Hall, London

Dr Ian Mudway is Visiting Professor of Environmental Health. He is a senior lecturer in the School of Public Health at Imperial, a member of the MRC Centre for Environment and Health; MRC & Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma and the NIHR-PHE Health Protection Research Units in Environmental Exposures and Health and Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards.
He has over 25 years of experience researching the impacts of air pollution on human health and in the development of assays to quantify the toxicity of the chemical cocktails that pollute the air we breathe. Over this period Dr Mudway has published over 100 research papers, reports and book chapters on these topics, as well as providing advice to the local, national and international governments and NGOs. Dr Mudway is passionate about the communication of science to lay audiences and has worked extensively with artists and educationalist to promote the public understanding of the risks associated with environmental pollutants. Currently his work is focused on understanding early life impacts of pollutants on the development of the lung and cognitive function in children living within urban populations, as well as  furthering our fundamental understanding of the mechanisms that drive these adverse effects and modify an individual’s susceptibility to air pollution

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/pill-planet

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today
 
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This lecture was recorded by Colva Roney-Dougal on the 11th of May 2026 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London

Colva Mary Roney-Dougal OBE is a British mathematician specializing in group theory and computational algebra. She is Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews, where she is first female Head of Pure Mathematics.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/hard-complexity

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With an academic background in social, cultural anthropology and photography, I have spent the last twenty-five years working on projects that have bridged photographic and archival research. I have witnessed the power of photography as a means to connect communities. I have experienced first-hand the benefits to participants of enabling an emotional connection and inspiring a sense of validation, of feeling seen and valued and heard. That their story matters. That they matter. 

In this talk, we will explore the creative mechanisms involved in making memory visible through photography, stimulating engagement in the present.

This lecture was recorded by Julia Winckler on the 7th of May 2026

Julia Winckler is a photographer, writer, curator and Principal Lecturer at the University of Brighton's School of Art and Media, where she teaches on MA Photography and MA Fine Art and supervises PhD research. She has exhibited and published widely on memory and migration narratives, contested topographies, émigré photographers and photography as activism. With an academic background in cultural anthropology, social work and photography, she has spent the last 25 years developing projects that bridge photographic and archival research.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/making-memory

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today

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This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on the 6th May 2026 at Barnard’s Inn Hall, London

Professor Hutton is Professor of History at the University of Bristol. He took degrees at Cambridge and then Oxford Universities, and was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He is now a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries and the Learned Society of Wales, and has won awards for teaching and research.

He has lectured all over the world, authored twenty books and ninety-six essays, appeared in or presented scores of television and radio programmes, and sits on the editorial boards of six journals concerned with the history of religion and magic.

He is currently working on the third volume of his biography of Oliver Cromwell. 

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/god-dionysus

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today
 
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Earth is a living planet. But how much life is there, and what is it doing? We will discuss the distribution of biomass on Earth, and compare the effects of microbes, wild animals, domesticated animals. The aim of this lecture is to provide concrete examples of how life is woven in with the rest of the planetary engine, expanding the importance of biodiversity from sentiment alone to a matter of survival for both whole ecosystems and our own civilisation.

This lecture was recorded by Helen Czerski on the 23th of March 2026 at Bernard’s Inn Hall, London

Helen Czerski is a physicist and oceanographer with a passion for science, sport, books, creativity, hot chocolate and investigating the interesting things in life. 

She is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London and her research focus is the physics of breaking waves and bubbles at the ocean surface. These bubbles change underwater sound and light, help transfer gases from ocean to atmosphere (helping the ocean breathe) and also eject ocean material into the air. She has spent months working on research ships in the Antarctic, the Pacific, the North Atlantic and the Arctic, and is an experienced field scientist. 

Helen has been a regular science presenter on the BBC for 15 years, covering the physics of the natural world in BBC2 landmark documentaries (including ‘Orbit’, ‘Operation iceberg’ and ‘Supersenses’), and the physics of everyday life in a range of BBC4 documentaries (including ‘From ice to fire: The incredible science of temperature’, ‘Sound waves: The symphony of physics’, and ‘Colour: The spectrum of science’, along  with many others). She currently co-hosts BBC Radio 4’s flagship climate and environment programme Rare Earth. 

Helen's first book Storm in a Teacup won the Italian Asimov Prize and the Louis J. Battan Author prize from the American Meteorological Society. Blue Machine won the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. She was awarded the Institute of Physics Gold Medal in 2018 for her work on physics communication, and an Honorary Fellowship of the British Science Association in 2020. She has been a Trustee of Royal Museums Greenwich since 2018, and was one of the 2020 Royal Institution Christmas Lecturers, giving her Lecture on the topic of the ocean. 

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/living-planet

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today

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This lecture was recorded by Mieko Kanno on the 5th May 2026 at Barnard’s Inn Hall, London

Mieko Kanno is a violinist and an academic, active in both capacities as Professor of Artistic Research in Music Performance at the Sibelius Academy, the University of the Arts Helsinki. Her main interest concerns artistic musical practice as a field and vocation in contemporary settings, with topics ranging from notation and technology to education. She first came to international attention in the 1980s when she won prizes in international competitions including the Carl Flesch and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. Later she developed an interest in performing contemporary music and won the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis from the Darmstadt New Music Institute in 1994. Since her doctorate in 2001 she held fulltime positions at the University of Durham and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, alongside a freelance career as contemporary music specialist both in performance and scholarly work.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/music-death

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today
 
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This lecture was recorded by Clive Stafford Smith on the 30th of April 2026 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London

Clive Stafford Smith JD OBE is a dual UK-US national, the founder and director of  the Justice League a non-profit human rights training centre focused on fostering the next generation of advocates. 


The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/israel-palestine-law

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/

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Tiling involves filling a plane or space with repeated elements, known as tiles. This simple concept is deeply embedded in the natural world and human design, appearing in structures as varied as the hexagonal wax cells of a beehive and decorative wallpapers. While regular hard tiles—geometric shapes with straight edges that fit together without gaps or overlaps—are common in human-made designs, nature often favours soft or irregular patterns, shaped by physical forces. In this lecture, I will explore how both regular and irregular tiling patterns, hard and soft, emerge in nature and the underlying mathematical principles that govern their formation.

This lecture was recorded by Alain Goriely on the 28th of April 2026

Alain Goriely is a mathematician with broad interests in mathematical methods, mechanics, sciences, and engineering. He is well known for his contributions to dynamical systems, mathematical biology, as well as fundamental and applied mechanics. He is particularly well known for the development of a mathematical theory of biological growth, culminating with his seminal monograph The Mathematics on Mechanics of Biological Growth (2017).

He received his PhD from the University of Brussels in 1994 where he became a lecturer. In 1996, he joined the University of Arizona where he established a research group within the renowned Program of Applied Mathematics. In 2010, he joined the University of Oxford as the inaugural Statutory Professor of Mathematical Modelling and fellow of St. Catherine’s College. He is currently the Director of the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

In addition, Alain has enjoyed scientific outreach based on problems connected to his research, including tendril perversion in plants, twining plants, umbilical cord knotting, whip cracking, the shape of seashells, brain modelling, and he is the author of a Very Short Introduction to Applied Mathematics (2017). His work has been recognized by a Sloan Fellowship, a Royal Society Wolfson Research Award, the Cozzarelli Prize from the National Academy of Sciences and the Engineering Medal from the Society of Engineering Sciences. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2022.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/shape-tiles

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today

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