Alumni Festival
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Recordings from our previous Festivals are available for you to watch and enjoy online.

The Alumni Festival features lively discussions and webinars with some of the world’s foremost thinkers. Find all the available recorded sessions our YouTube Channel. You can also find the latest recorded sessions below.

book cover

The Atomic Human

28 September 2024
11.30am - 12.30pm

Join Professor Neil Lawrence as he explores our fascination with Artificial Intelligence, and challenges our fear of being displaced by it. Professor Lawrence will be interviewed by Jessica Montgomery, Director of AI@Cam.
Section of a brain seen in profile, parts of the brain. Degenerative diseases, Parkinson, synapses, neurons, Alzheimer’s

Brain inflammation in the race against dementia

28 September 2024
3.00pm - 4.00pm

Join Dr. Malpetti as she explores cutting-edge methods to measure brain inflammation in dementia. Learn how specialist brain scans and novel blood tests can identify those who might benefit from anti-inflammatory treatments, determine optimal treatment times, and target specific immune system areas to slow or prevent cognitive decline.
Making History book cover and photo of Richard Cohen

The appropriation of history

28 September 2024
9.00am - 9.45am

Join Richard Cohen (Madgalene 1965) as he delves into the global manipulation of history by governments, from Brazil to North Korea. Drawing from his acclaimed book 'Making History,' he examines how nations like Russia, Japan, and the United States shape historical narratives to suit their agendas and explores ways to safeguard unbiased historical study. 
Image of human in pain

Pathways to pain: how to cure, not cause!

28 September 2024
10.00am - 11.00am

Explore the science of pain with pharmacologist Professor Ewan St. John Smith. Understand why pain exists, how it works, and what occurs in chronic conditions like osteoarthritis. Discover why painkillers often fail and the urgent need for better treatments. Join us for this insightful talk on advancing pain management. 
Cambridge Women in Law, 100 Years in Practice

CWIL - Access to justice in legal advice deserts...(EU) migrant women, the law and… Great Yarmouth

27 September 2024
3.00pm - 5.30pm

Join the authors of Low Paid EU Migrant Workers, the House, the Street, the Town and former Home Secretary Charles Clarke for a discussion on the book's findings. Explore the lives of EU migrant workers in the UK post-Brexit and COVID-19, focusing on legal issues and community interactions.
Plant and light bulb growing from the soil

Unlocking the hidden complexities of evolution

28 September 2024
1.30pm - 2.30pm

Join Professor Ian Henderson, Dr Emily Mitchell, and Dr Aylwyn Scally as they reveal the hidden complexities of evolution. Discover how modern science is debunking myths about evolution and human ancestry, revolutionizing our understanding of life’s history, and impacting our society today and in the future.
NHS

75 years of the NHS

23 September 2023
1.30pm - 2.30pm

Join us as we look at the past, present and future of the NHS, and how today's challenges and debates will shape the future of universal healthcare. 
Women in Law audience

AI and the law: the road ahead

22 September 2023
3.45pm - 4.45pm

A Cambridge Women in Law event, with a panel of experts exploring the implications that the rise of AI has on the law.
Rebecca Fitzgerald with cancer-testing device

Changing the story of cancer

23 September 2023
9.00am - 9.45am

Join Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald and Professor Jean Abraham as they discuss the new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital.
Gavel, Themis sculpture

In conversation with Dame Vivien Rose of the Supreme Court

22 September 2023
2.00pm - 3.15pm

A Cambridge Women in Law event with Dame Vivien Rose (Newnham 1979), as she shares details of her long and fascinating legal career.
person in giant deck chair

Mindfulness for better sleep

23 September 2023
11.30am - 12.30pm

Can mindfulness help us sleep better?
LHCb

Rare beauty: seeking new physics at the Large Hadron Collider

23 September 2023
11.30am - 12.30pm

In this talk, LHCb physicist Harry Cliff will explain the science of LHCb and the Large Hadron Collider, and the tantalising anomalies that could be showing us the first outlines of a deeper picture of nature.
Student life in the 19C front cover

Student life in the 19th Century

23 September 2023
10.15am - 11.00am

An entertaining examination of student life at the University of Cambridge, the teaching of mathematics in the nineteenth century, and the life of London’s literary underworld in the 1820s.
the myths behind AI

The age of AI: myths, risks and opportunities

23 September 2023
3.00pm - 4.00pm

Stephen Cave will relate the rise of AI to the great technological transformations of the past.