Inaugural lectures

Inaugural lectures are a landmark in academic life, held on the appointment of new professorships. 

Forthcoming Inaugural lectures for 2024

We have a number of Inaugural lectures planned for the academic year. The list below will be updated with further information. Please click on speaker name for their staff profile, and talk title to be taken to the specific Inaugural webpage whihc includes a link to register.

• 27 February, Petar Milin, ‘The unbearable brightness of language learning’
• 12 March, Lyndsey Stonebridge, 'What do we mean when we talk about totalitarianism today? Lessons from Hannah Arendt'
• 14 March, Adam Schembri, 'How is sign language?'
• 18 March,  Jonathan Boff, ‘Merrie England: Twenty-first Century Military History’ 
• 1 May, William Purkis, 'Should we stop talking about The Crusades'
• 2 May, Adam Ledger, ' A turn: memory, craft, and hope'

We've brought together recordings of these lectures from the University of Birmingham's College of Arts and Law over the last nine years. Click on the title of a video to play it fullscreen.