Big Issues: The Edmund Lectures 2024
9th Oct 2024 - 20th Nov 2024
St Edmundsbury Cathedral
A series of lectures by internationally renowned experts on big issues that challenge our lives as we continue to navigate the 21st century.
“A Different God? A Different Mountain?” – Dr Ed Kessler MBE
Wednesday 2 October at 7.00pm
Dr Edward Kessler MBE is the founder and President of the Woolf Institute and a leading thinker in Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations. He is also Chair of the Commission on the Integration of Refugees and Fellow of St Edmunds College, Cambridge. In this talk, he will address the question: In an increasingly polarised and dangerous world, what’s the point of interfaith dialogue?
Ed will explore the tensions, positive as well as negative, between religion and civil society, both in the UK and around the world. He calls for genuine dialogue at a time of increasing tensions between and within faith communities in the wake of the Israel and Gaza conflict, argues that diplomats and policymakers need to be better trained in religion and belief, and emphasises the need to rediscover common ground in light of growing polarisation and the rise of sectarian voting trends in the UK and elsewhere in Europe after the recent elections.
“A Very British Scandal” – Mark Russell
Wednesday 30 October at 7.00pm
Mark Russell was appointed as Chief Executive of The Children’s Society in 2019 and leads a team of 750 staff and 6,000 volunteers. He is passionately committed to social justice and fighting for children and young people to feel hopeful and happy.
Why do so many British children live in poverty? Why do they have the lowest well-being rates in Europe? Over four million children in this country live in poverty. Many are open to exploitation, poor mental health, and vulnerable to online abuse. How might we contribute to a society which cares for our children and young people better. In this talk, Mark will help us to understand how we can help and hope, and how politics can create change.
“Climate Change: Science and Solutions” – Professor Rachel Warren
Wednesday 20 November at 7.00pm
Interdisciplinary synthesist Professor Rachel Warren is Professor of Global Change and Environmental Biology at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia, UK. She has over 25 years’ experience leading interdisciplinary teams to deliver policy relevant science on climate change. Rachel is a joint author of a Nobel Peace Prize winning intergovernmental report on climate change (2007) and co-authored the UN Environment Programme’s Making Peace with Nature report (2021).
The effects of global climate change are greater, and are happening faster, than most people ever imagined. Big increases in searing heat and flooding are no longer confined to the predictions scientists have made about the future – they are already lived realities for much of the world’s population. After record hot summers in southern Europe and floods in the UK, many of us are finally waking up to an inconvenient truth; our climate and our weather is changing fast. Science has identified a crisis. How big are the risks? What do they mean for the economy, biodiversity, and food security? How can climate science help us to think about our planet and how we can safeguard its future? Professor Warren will address these questions and help us to reflect on what we can do.
