Professor Philip Schofield sits down with Dr Luciano Rila, from the Department of Maths, to delve into the history of the UK’s first university-affiliated Gaysoc, founded by Jamie Gardiner in 1972, at UCL. Dr Rila discovered archival materials in UCL’s Special Collections revealing that though the society was initially met with backlash, UCL’s liberal tradition prevailed, and the movement gained momentum, slowly leading to nationwide improvements in the lives of queer students.

Host: Professor Philip Schofield (Director of the Bentham Project, UCL)

Guest: Dr Luciano Rila (Department of Mathematics, UCL)

Commissioners: Professor David Docherty OBE & Dr Paul Ayris (Pro-Vice-Provost LCCOS: Library, Culture, Collections and Open Science, UCL)

Director: Justin Hardy (IOE - Culture, Communication & Media, UCL)

Producer: Stevie Doran 

Date: 4 November 2024

Duration: 25:22 

Professor Philip Schofield discusses queer aesthetics and the idea of a racialised panoptic gaze with Dr Xine Yao, the co-director of qUCL and an expert on American literature in the Department of English. They dig into the archive of bestselling, but now forgotten, American novels, and tease out the ways in which the biggest issues of the 19th century still resonate in everyday life today.

Host: Professor Philip Schofield (Director of the Bentham Project, UCL)

Guest: Dr Xine Yao (Department of English, UCL)

Commissioners: Professor David Docherty OBE & Dr Paul Ayris (Pro-Vice-Provost LCCOS: Library, Culture, Collections and Open Science, UCL)

Director: Justin Hardy (IOE - Culture, Communication & Media, UCL)

Producer: Stevie Doran 

Date: 28 October 2024

Duration: 32:27

Professor Philip Schofield hosts Social Scientist Dr Jonathan Galton, to explore his research into the perceived political tension on the progressive left between queerness and Islam. Discussing the historical and cultural context surrounding queerness and Islam, they find surprising affinities between Bentham’s writing on freedom of religion and sexual liberty, and the contemporary theological work reinterpreting Quranic verses on homosexuality today.

Dr Jonathan Galton is a Lecturer in Sociology and Social Sciences at the Thomas Coram Research Unit in the UCL Social Research Institute. The research discussed in this episode was funded through a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship. 

Host: Professor Philip Schofield (Director of the Bentham Project, UCL)

Guest: Dr Jonathan Galton (IOE - Social Research Institute, UCL)

Commissioners: Professor David Docherty OBE & Dr Paul Ayris (Pro-Vice-Provost LCCOS: Library, Culture, Collections and Open Science, UCL)

Director: Justin Hardy (IOE - Culture, Communication & Media, UCL)

Producer: Stevie Doran 

Date: 21 October 2024

Duration: 26:35

Professor Philip Schofield and Professor Gregory Dart discuss the philosophical differences between Utilitarianism and Romanticism, in the context of the founding of the “Cockney College”, as UCL was known at the time. They explore how Bentham’s utilitarian principles, emphasising happiness and the greatest good, contrasted with Romantic notions of moral intentions and conscience. 

Transcript: https://uclpress.co.uk/ucl-press-play/ 

Host: Professor Philip Schofield (Director of the Bentham Project, UCL)

Guest: Professor Gregory Dart (Department of English, UCL)

Commissioners: Professor David Docherty OBE & Dr Paul Ayris (Pro-Vice-Provost LCCOS: Library, Culture, Collections and Open Science, UCL)

Director: Justin Hardy (IOE - Culture, Communication & Media, UCL)

Producer: Stevie Doran 

Date: 14 October 2024

Duration: 26:32