Lectures

Past Lectures

13 October 2022
Gerry White – Dividing the Nation – the Negotiation and Ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

20 October 2022
Jim Wilson – Harper s Island Wetlands: its history and its wildlife.

27 October 2022 – no lecture due to Jazz Festival.

3 November 2022
Jim Herlihy – Policing Ireland in 1922.

10 November 2022
Dr. Paddy Sleeman –  The Ecology and Evolution of Ireland s Wild Mammals.

17 November 2022
Professor Hannah E. Daly – Mapping a pathway to Ireland’s sustainable energy transformation.

24 November 2022
Michael Lenihan – The Burning of Cork City and Aspects of its Rebuilding.

1 December 2022
John Kearon – ASGARD: Conserving Erskine Childers Historic Yacht.

12 January 2023
Marcello Valente –  I want no DNA in my tomatoes: myths and facts on the oldest biomolecule.

19 January 2023
Adam Whitbourn –  The History and Development of Blarney Castle Gardens.

26 January 2023
Dr. Michael Waldron–‘In the Margins: Exploring the world of Harry Clarke’.

2 February 2023
Richard Murray –  Low environmental cost sensors; when disposable is okay.

9 February 2023
Gerard Crotty –  Heraldry and St. Fin Barre s Cathedral.

16 February 2023
Dr. Mary Breen –  Examined Lives: Diaries, Journals and Household Accounts in Ireland 1750-1830.

23 February 2023
Ana Claudia Ferriera –  If a cow s gut could talk…

2 March 2023
Dr. James Cronin – The cloths of heaven: women artisans and the Honan Chapel, Cork.

28 October 2021
John Ware –  ‘Dirty Shirts: the Royal Munster Fusiliers in 1914’.

4 November 2021
An Van Camp –  ‘Rembrandt in Print: the Ashmolean’s exhibition at the Crawford Art Gallery’.

11 November 2021
Dr. Alicia St. Leger – ‘Exploring St. Mary’s Collegiate Church, Youghal, Co. Cork’.

18 November 2021
Dr. Melusine Pigeon –  ‘E-waste: Our global issue’.

25 November 2021
James O’Neill –  ‘Ireland’s Secret Woodland Wader: the Woodcock’.

2 December 2021
Dr. Aidan Quinn – ‘Can we make compostable carbon sensors to reduce food waste?’

27 January 2022
Dr. Eoin Lettice – ‘UCC Arboretum: Learning from a living collection’.

3 February 2022
Sibéal Regan –  insights into the fascinating world of whales and dolphins.

10 February 2022
Prof. Pádraig Ó Macháin –  ‘Vellum and paper as materials in Gaelic manuscripts, 1468-1650’.

17  February 2022
Sean McKeown – ‘The role of modern zoological institutions in conserving global biodiversity – Fota’s contribution to saving endangered species’.

24 February 2022
Dr. Niamh Shaw –  ‘Niamh Shaw – Dream Big: Science with Creativity in the Space Sector’.

3 March 2022
Dr. Jason McElligott – exploring the historic Marsh’s Library, Dublin.

29 October 2020
Dr. Alicia St. Leger – ‘A Visit to Youghal: Past and Present’.

5 November 2020
Dr. Jean O’Dwyer – ‘Bridging the gap between the natural environment and human health’.

12 November 2020
Dr. Michael Waldron – ‘Statio Bene: exploring representations of Cork Harbour in visual art’.

19 November 2020
Dr. Melusine Pigeon – ‘Communicating bodies: introduction to wireless medical devices’.

26 November 2020
Amol Delmade –  ‘How Optics is Driving Modern Day Life’. 

3 December 2020
Jim Wilson –  ‘Robert Forde: Cork Antarctic Explorer’.

28 January 2021
Michael Hayes – ‘Powering the Internet of Things’.

4 February 2021
Prof. Pádraig Ó Macháin – ‘The Book of Lismore’.

11 February 2021
Prof. John Quinn – ‘Bird Research at University College Cork’. 

18 February 2021
Shane Lehane – ‘The Forgotten Traditions of Skellicking Day’.

25 February 2021
Dr. Ann Wilson –  ‘St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh’.

4 March 2021
Hemalatha Muthuganesan – ‘Miracles of Unseeable Light’.

17 October 2019
Dr. Ger Fitzgibbon – ‘”The nature of an Insurrection”: The strange case of Shakespeare and the Irish Rising.’

24 October 2019
Jim Wilson –’Edward Bransfield- Forgotten Irish Antarctic Explorer’.

31 October 2019
Peter Murray – actors Hurd Hatfield and Angela Lansbury, their lives and careers and their close connections with Cork.

7 November 2019
Jasper Winn – ‘Japanese Walk: a 1,200 kilometre pilgrimage on the Shikoku 88-Temple trail’.

14 November 2019
Diarmuid Ó Drisceoil – ‘Blackrock: probably Cork’s most historic suburb!’

21 November 2019
Godfrey Graham – short film ‘A Jar with Brendan Behan’, starring Niall Tóibín.

28 November 2019
Frances McCarthy – the Apollo Moon missions and the future of planned missions with the Lunar Gateway and on to Mars.

5 December 2019
David Edwards – ‘Pompeii: Vesuvius’ Legacy and Warning’.

16 January 2020
Ed Godsell – ‘The Balkans: the land of blood and honey’.

23 January 2020
Dr. Maria McNamara – ‘Fossils in technicolor: detection and applications of fossil colour in ancient frogs, snakes and dinosaurs’.

30 January 2020
Des MacHale –’The Humour of Cork’.

6 February 2020
David Creedon – ‘The Last Cooper’.

13 February 2020
Dr. Connie Kelleher – ‘Pride, Honour and the Fall of an Empire: The 1628 Wreck of Santa Ana Maria in Castlehaven’.

20 February 2020
Ronnie Herlihy – ‘Two Centuries of Service to Cork – The Imperial Hotel’.

27 February 2020
John Pilkington – ‘Up the Mekong to Tibet’.

5 March 2020
Dr. Markus Eichhorn – ‘Lasers in the Jungle’.

18 October 2018
Dr. Emanuele Pelucchi – ‘What are these mysterious quantum technologies?’

25 October
Michael Smith  – Ireland’s Antarctic Explorers’.

1 November
Dr. Ann Wilson  ‘Sacred and Profane: Church Art and Architecture in Cork City’.

8 November
Dr. Michael Nolan – ‘Why is our technologically advanced society afraid of science? Overcoming Sagan’s “Daemon-Haunted World”‘.

15 November
Gerry White – ‘The Story of the Unknown Warrior of Westminster Abbey’.

22 November
Dr. John Hughes – ‘Bird Surveys on Ascension Island’.

29 November
Jim Herlihy  ‘Tracing your Irish Police Ancestors’.

6 December
Professor Des MacHale and Yvonne Cohen  ‘New Light on George Boole in Cork’.

17 January 2019
Dr. Beth Massey – ‘What does it mean to be an Energy Citizen, and what’s in it for me?’

24 January
Pat Gunn  ‘Father O’Flynn and the Cork Shakespearean Company’.

31 January
James Cronin – ‘A design for life: the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement (1893-1925) and the question of education for a New Ireland’.

7 February
Ronnie Herlihy – ‘The Life and Tragic Death of Jerome Collins; Engineer, Meteorologist, Revolutionary, and Polar Explorer’.

14 February
Dr. Aaron Lim – ‘New Ways To Image Deep Water Habitats: An Example From Offshore Ireland’.

21 February
Bob Jackson – ‘A Doctor’s Sword – how a Cork doctor survived war, captivity and the atomic bomb’.

28 February
John Pilkington  ‘To Eritrea and Ethiopia: Retracing a Victorian Expedition’.

7 March
Dr. Jim McAdam – ‘Conor O’Brien – Patriot, Yachtsman and Author’.

12 October 2017
Bernard Wilson – ‘Mary Elmes, The Irish Schindler? Yes – but much, much more!’

19 October     
Shane Lehane – ‘Much Ado About Beekeeping: Exploring the Vernacular Craft’.

26 October     
Denise Heywood – ‘Legend & Lustre: Jim Thompson, Thai Silk, a Teak House and a Hollywood Film’.

2 November   
Godfrey Graham – a film based on music by Cork jazz composer Bobby Lamb.

9 November   
Jim Murphy – ‘Richard Hingston – Cork’s Forgotten Hero’.

16 November 
Aileen Crean O’Brien & Bill Sheppard – ‘Emerging from the shadow of Tom Crean’.

23 November 
Dr. Barra O Donnabhain – ‘The Victorian Convict Prison on Spike Island 1847-1883’.

30 November 
Dr. Alicia St. Leger – ‘Huguenot Links with Cork’.

11 January 2018
Dr. Ann Wilson – ‘Life in Edwardian Ireland: a picture-postcard collection’.

18 January
Kari Herbert – ‘The Explorer’s Daughter’.

25 January
Kevin N. Power – ‘The Old Opera House, My Second Home’.

1 February
Frances McCarthy – Space Exploration.

8 February
Daniela Iacopino – ‘Nanotechnology meets art’.

15 February
Dr. John Borgonovo – ‘Cork Women, American Sailors, and the Moral Panic of 1917-18’

22 February
Karl Brady – ‘Diving into the Past: Archaeological Investigations of Ancient Logboats from Lough Corrib’.

1 March
Lecture cancelled due to severe weather.

13 October 2016
Michael Twomey with Linda Kenny and Alan Carney – ‘The Way We Were in 1916: a musical journey through the lives of the ordinary people of one hundred years ago’.

20 October
Dr. Kieran Hickey –  ‘The natural and cultural history of wolves in Ireland.’

27 October
Michael Smith – ‘Ernest Shackleton – Ireland’s Greatest Explorer’.

3 November
Michael Lenihan – ‘Aspects of Cork Printing 1750-1900’.

10 November
David Edwards – ‘My Exploding World’.

 17 November
David Creedon – ‘Ghosts of the Faithful Departed’.

24 November
Dr. Peter Deller  –  ‘Kevan Izod Leslie: a Cork Officer in Wellington’s Army’.

1 December
Chris Ramsden  – ‘A Day in the Life of the Monard Spade Mills’.

12 January 2017
Jasper Winn – ‘The Water Roads – following Britain’s canals afoot and afloat’.

19 January
Canon George Salter –  interesting aspects of the West Limerick area.

26 January
Rachel Abraham  – ‘Remembering Sgt. Myles Abraham DCM MM’.

2 February
Declan Hassett – ‘A Man for All Reasons’.

9 February
Dr. Mary Breen, – ‘The many pleasures of reading Molly Keane’s novel Good Behaviour.

16 February
John Pilkington  – ‘Russia and Europe – what next?’

23 February
Prof. Des MacHale  – ’Ripples in the Quiet Man’.

2 March
Mark Davies – ‘From Alice to Zuleika: a Literary Tour (with Irish diversion) of ‘river-rounded’ Oxford.’

15 October 2015
Tim OBrien – ‘The River Lee hydroelectric scheme and St. Ann’s Hydro, Blarney’.

22 October
Godfrey Graham – ‘Seán Ó Faoláin’.

29 October
Canon George Salter – ‘Lough Derg and the historic city of Limerick’.

5 November
David Edwards – ‘Montserrat: Snake Hunting under the Volcano’.

12 November
David Creedon – ‘Behind Open Doors’.

19 November
Dr. Ger Fitzgibbon – ‘Shakespeare: The Man and the Works’.

26 November
Tim Severin – ‘The Sindbad Voyage’.

3 December
Dr. John Barrett – ‘The Internet of Things – a New Industrial Revolution?’

14 January 2016
Gerry White – ‘Order, Counter-order and Disorder – Cork and the 1916 Rising’.

21 January
Dr. Connie Kelleher – ‘From Spanish Armada Wrecks to Pirate Ships: The Work of the State Underwater Archaeology Unit’.

28 January
Shane Lehane – ‘The Irish Folk Year: New Perspectives on Irish Traditional Calendar Custom and Ritual.’

4 February
Professor Des MacHale – ‘Sherlock Holmes, James Moriarty and George Boole’.

11 February
Michael Twomey – ‘When Moby Dick came to Youghal’.

18 February
Keith Holmes – ‘Camera in the Cotswolds’.

25 February
Jim Fitzgibbon – ‘The First Nations and others’.

3 March
Dr. Alicia St. Leger – ‘Adam Buck: A Regency Artist from Cork’.

16 October 2014
Dr. Bozena Cierlik – ‘God’s playground: Poland and East Central Europe’.

23 October
Prof. Rorke Bryan – ‘Antarctica Then and Now: The Legacy of Shackleton’.

30 October
Dr. Steven OConnor – ‘Irish Officers in the British Forces, 1922-45’.

6 November
Denis MacSweeney – ‘Henry Ford: The Cork Connection’.

13 November
Dr. Clíona OCarroll – ‘Life, livelihoods and social history in Cork from the 1930s: an introduction to the audio archives of the Cork Folklore Project’.

20 November
Michael Loftus – ‘Engagement between Higher Education and Industry – Trends and Opportunities’.

27 November
Dr. John L. Quinn – ‘Studying Intelligence and Personality in Birds’.

4 December
Louise Harrington – ‘Daniel Levie (1875-1963) : A Scottish Architect in Cork’.

15 January 2015
Jasper Winn – ‘The Art and Rewards of Slow Adventure’.

22 January
Darren Reidy – ‘The world’s first Green Flag university: journeys in creating UCC’s green campus’.

29 January
Helen Dillon – ‘Gardening’.

5 February
Canon George Salter – ‘Clonmacnoise: the bedrock of Christianity …. and other places.’

12 February
Paddy OSullivan – ‘The Forgotten Copper mines of West Carbery’.

19 February
John Pilkington – ‘A Balkan Adventure’.

26 February
Declan Hassett – ‘Hidden Heroines’.

5 March
Felicity Aston, – ‘Pole of Cold’.

17 October 2013
Dr. Paddy Sleeman – ‘Cork’s Otters, Badgers and Ireland’s Biodiversity’.

24 October
Dr. Mary Breen – ‘The Pleasures of Reading Jane Austen’.

31 October
Peter Murray – ‘Realism and Genre in nineteenth century Irish Art’.

7 November
James Cronin – ‘Exotic Envoy: a representation of race in a forge of empire’.

14 November
John Hooton – ‘Gathering Light on the Dingle Coast’.

21 November
Captain William Wells – ‘The Vikings’.

28 November
Dr. Connie Kelleher – ‘Piracy in early seventeenth century south-west Munster: Sea Sharkers and Land Pirates’.

5 December
Diarmuid Ó Drisceoil – ‘The Early Years of Beamish and Crawford – Merchant Princes to Brewers’.

16 January 2014
Gerry White – ‘The Victoria Cross and Cork VCs of the Great War’.

23 January
Frances McCarthy – ‘Solar System Astronomy’.

30 January
Canon George Salter – ‘Sunny South East: our Great Heritage’.

6 February
Daithi Fallon – ‘Innovative Trends in Biomedical Devices’.

13 February
David Edwards – ‘New Zealand – land of wonder’.

20 February
Michael Twomey – ‘John B. and me’.

27 February
Keith Holmes – ‘A Taste of Cornwall’.

6 March
Jim Fitzgibbon – ‘Darwin Revealed’.

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