Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along.
We’re back from the summer holidays with thoroughly nerdy understanding of what SAD is. So we’ve got three superb nerds to help us make the most of the longer nights. We’ll discover there’s no need to worry if you’re the victim of a drive-by, shrink-ray shooting, and find out about the history of the drugs that make you smaller in a less dramatic way. Plus we’ll find out why it’s better to talk about values than the tech behind climate change.
Address: The Backyard Comedy Club, 231 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 0EL
Details: Wednesday, 18 September 2024. Bar and food from 6:00pm, theatre doors open at 7:15pm for an event start at 7.30pm.
The frontline battles of climate policy: let’s talk values, not tech
National surveys repeatedly show that there are high levels of citizen concern about climate change in the UK, and yet attempts to introduce policies to tackle the problem from low traffic neighbourhoods to renewable energy installations often meet stiff resistance at the local level. Dismissing local objections as NIMBYism overlooks the underlying dynamics and has failed to move the situation forward. Rachel will talk about her PhD research, which looks specifically at the clash of underlying values and attitudes between broadly conservative populations in rural areas where many ‘climate solutions’ need to be implemented, and the largely urban, left-leaning policymakers and academics that design and promote the policy solutions in the first place.
Rachel Coxcoon is a PhD researcher at Lancaster University, as well as director of Climate Guide, a consultancy that provides strategic support to local government on climate strategy, planning and community engagement. Her PhD came about as a result of years of frustration as a professional working for a climate change charity, and as a local councillor, watching climate policy battles play out over and over again against the same predictable backdrop of clashing values.
The Skinny: A brief history of anti-obesity drugs
Since ancient times, humans have recognised obesity as a disease that could cause early death. This has led to many attempts to treat it, which either didn’t work, or did work but with appalling side effects. Recent drugs have proven more effective, Ozempic has become a household name and some people have become very rich. We will take a whistlestop tour of hundreds of years of obesity treatments and explore why it has been so difficult to make an effective anti-obesity drug, and whether these new drugs might consign obesity to history.
Kevin Murphy is a Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Imperial College London, where he has studied the regulation of appetite, body weight and blood glucose for 25 years. Given that treating obesity looks so easy on paper- eat less and/or burn more energy- he’s particularly interested in why it has turned out to be so difficult.
Why King Kong has a bad back: the maths of being very large or very small
Fiction is full of tales of both giant and tiny creatures and people, whether it’s the gigantic spiders haunting the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts, or the Borrowers living under the floorboards in Mary Norton’s classic children’s tales. But could such creatures ever exist in reality, and what would their life be like if they did? In this talk we’ll explore what mathematics can tell us about being very small or very large, including good news for shrink-ray victims, and bad news for the Lilliputian economy.
Sarah Hart is a mathematician and author. She is Professor Emerita of Mathematics at Birkbeck, and was recently the first woman Professor of Geometry at Gresham College. Sarah is particularly interested in the cultural, historical and creative impact of mathematics, and the links between mathematics and the arts. Her first book, Once Upon a Prime: The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature 2023, was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, and won the Mathematical Association of America’s Euler Book Prize.
Any profits from Nerd Nite London go to charity. This year we’re partnering with the Dalston branch of the Library of Things, to help foster a new generation of nerds.
Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along. This month, we’re learning about a Death ray battle, investigating a mysterious damp patch and finding out what intersubjectivity is all about. Be there and be square.
Address: The Backyard Comedy Club, 231 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 0EL / also online*
Details: Wednesday 17th April 2024. Doors open at 7pm, event starts at 7.30pm.
Intersubjectivity / Constructing and Reconstructing Social Constructs
Even if you’ve never heard the word, you experience intersubjectivity all the time. You couldn’t live without it. In this talk, Pete hopes that teaching you Intersubjectivity’s proper name and ways, as though it were a dragon from Earthsea, will give you power over it rather than letting it have power over you. The talk is structured as a fan dance, slowly revealing various contours of the subject in a way that aims to be alluring, amusing, and memorable. Well received at Nerd Nite DC!
Pete Miller has the thinnest tissue of academic credential for this talk owing to a dusty bachelor’s in behavioral science. But, decades of managing information technology organizations and volunteering for theatrical organizations have contributed much more to his insight into how people tick. He may arrive at the Backyard travel stained from 3 weeks of country walking in the north, and very much appreciates the opportunity to explore his latest obsession with nerds of London. When not walking in the North, he can be found on Facebook at petemill
Damp Deductions
The tale of how we applied the scientific deductive process to a mysterious damp patch on our kitchen wall, including words like ‘bisect’ & ‘instrumentation’, as well as ‘guilt’, and ‘sewage’. It contains unexpected surprises suddenly showing up in time-lapse photography, curious & unpredictable strangers, and high-powered lasers marking the Greenwich Prime Meridian.
Before it was a science fiction trope, the death ray was cutting edge science – and exactly a century ago, rival British inventors fought for dominance. Who would win out to become LORD OF THE BEAMS OF DOOM?
Andy Riley is an Emmy-winning scriptwriter and a bestselling author/cartoonist whose latest work is the movie SEIZE THEM! His hobbies include building houses from sticks, mud and wire. He’s active on X and Instagram at @andyrileyish
Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along. This month, we’ll be learning about the 5×4 card, fleas and the lessons the NHS could take from one of the FBIs most wanted?
Address: The Backyard Comedy Club, 231 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 0EL / also online
Details: Wednesday, 21 February, 2024. Doors open at 7:15pm, event starts at 7.30pm. The online stream will go live at 7:15pm, with the speakers starting at 7.30pm and will be available for around 24 hours.
Description: Ahhhh, fleas. Tiny, blood-sucking hitch-hikers that have been with us and our pets through history. They are recognised for their involvement in the 14th-century plague and serving as instruments of war, all while having had the spotlight in their own circuses. The intimate relationship between humans and fleas across time will be explored, featuring fun examples from books, artworks, films, and video games.
About the speaker: Gaia is a PhD student at the University of Reading, where her project aims to uncover treasures held by itchy parasites preserved within archaeological finds. She is a fan of everything with 6 or more legs, and will infest you with her passion for the most-hated heroes of our ecosystems.
Twitter: @ThatItchyGirl
Card Indexes: how a 5×4 card won the Second World War
The card index has been all but forgotten. Once almost every business and certainly every library would have had banks of card indexes, holding millions of individual cards, allowing clerks to quickly find clients’ details and check book catalogues. They were easy to use, but they took up a huge amount of space and once a card was misfiled then it was impossible to find again. But by the 1970s computers could process data in a matter of seconds and link individual pieces of information together in a way that no card index could do. These indexes were at their most important in the two world wars, when it was important to keep a track men and women in the armed services, and so much besides. Without the cards neither war could have been fought. Huge card indexes were constructed involving literally millions of cards. They were vital in the Second World War when everybody from MI5 via concentration camp commandants to war crimes investigators used them. The talk will look at how and why they were used, and why they should be important to historians today.
About the speaker: Simon Fowler is a former archivist and professional researcher who specialised in the history of the two world wars and central government. He is preparing to do a PhD, but that is a talk for another Nerd Night.
‘How can the NHS learn from one of the FBIs most wanted?’
Population Health Management PHM, an analytical and structured approach to better understanding your population, is seen as key to the NHS meeting the ‘Triple Aim’ better patient outcomes, better patient experience and at the best possible value’. But William Sutton A.K.A. Slick Willy, one the FBI’s first ever ‘most wanted’, has a lesson we need to learn!
About the speaker: Andi is a health economist and the Director of the Health Economics Unit. Andi is a Senior Advisor on PHM for NHS England and the World Bank Group CEE. He lectures about and researches PHM for his PhD at Imperial College London. He is also President of the Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts and is registered as a Leading Practitioner in Healthcare Analytics. Andi is also Vice Chair of the Institute for Healthcare Costing for Value at the Healthcare Financial Management Association. Most importantly he plays rhythm guitar quite badly in a work band called the HEUristics and has a gig soon you should come along.
All proceeds after costs from Nerd Nite London go to charity. This year we are partnering with The Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds.
Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along. This month we’ll be discovering a lost language, examining French climate action and learning the origins of zombies
Address: The Backyard Comedy Club, 231 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 0EL / also online
Details: Wednesday, 18 October, 2023. Doors open at 7pm, event starts at 7.30pm.
The online stream will go live at 7:15pm, with the speakers starting at 7.30pm and will be available for around 24 hours.
In the 16th Century, an unfamiliar writing system and an otherwise unknown language were ‘channelled’ by Edward Kelley, a ‘scryer’ and an associate of the mystic John Dee. Dee named the language ‘Enochian’ and regarded it as of angelic origin. In the late 20th Century the Australian skeptical linguist Don Laycock and his associate Stephen Skinner analysed the material and concluded that Enochian was indeed a language, albeit a rather strange one; but they were unable to suggest a natural source for it. The mystery remains!
Mark Newbrook took a BA in Classics at Oxford and an MA and a PhD in Linguistics at Reading University. From 1982 to 2003 he was a lecturer and researcher in Linguistics in Singapore, Hong Kong, Perth and Melbourne. His main current research interest is in ‘skeptical linguistics’, the critical study of non-mainstream claims about language. He authored Strange Linguistics 2013, the first ever book-length critical survey work in this area.
Citizen assemblies and the case of the French citizen assembly for climate
Citizen assemblies have recently emerged as a new promising way towards more bottom-up democracies. After introducing the concept and its brief history, I’ll focus on the example of the French citizen assembly for climate that was held in 2020-2021 and will try to draw a few lessons to understand how this new tool could best fit in the political toolbox of democracies.
Emmanuel was an advisor for the French Minister of Housing from 2019 to 2021, closely working on the Climate Law that followed the French citizen assembly for climate. While he is now working as a plant manager in the waste treatment industry, Emmanuel is a bit of a climate nerd and has kept a vivid interest in ecological transition, politics and political philosophy.
The Living Dread – Zombies in their Natural Habitat
Like so many other horror-entertainment tropes, zombies have their origins in authentic folklore. Just in case you thought they only live in shopping malls or want your brain in a sandwich, here is a talk to flesh 😁 the subject out beyond the movie themes.
Deborah Hyde was editor of The Skeptic magazine for ten years and is an elected fellow of The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. She doesn’t believe in any of this stuff but still can’t stop talking about it. She can be found online at @jourdemayne or www.deborahhyde.com
All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. this year we are partnering with The Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds.
Our team is in need of new nerds! As a member of the team, you’d be helping us organise our monthly events- finding speakers, promoting the events, and helping the nights run smoothly. If this is of interest to you, please check out the job description and drop us a line: .
We’re back from the summer break in September when we’ll be nerding out about the environmental cost of self-driving cars with Georgie Box. Lu Gram will teach us how women in the slums of Mumbai fight back against patriarchy. And we will travel back to 1985 with Alastair McLellan who’ll take us through New Musical Express’s top 100 albums of all time! Be there and be square.
Address: The Backyard Comedy Club, 231 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 0EL / also online*
Details: Wednesday 20th September, 2023. Doors open at 7pm, event starts at 7.30pm.
The online stream* will go live at 7:15pm, with the speakers starting at 7.30pm and will be available for around 24 hours.
NOT AFRAID OF FISTICUFFS – WOMEN FIGHTING PATRIARCHY IN THE SLUMS OF MUMBAI
Women living in the slums of Mumbai have to deal with a lot – overcrowded, tiny homes, poor access to basic necessities like water, sanitation, and electricity, corrupt police and bureaucrats, and to top it all off – patriarchy! Feminist NGOs try to make lives better for local women, but it is hard work. In this talk, I will discuss NGO efforts to promote gender equality and stop violence against women in the slums of Mumbai. Through small discussion groups reflecting on the nature of patriarchy and power, women were able to find solidarity and comfort in each other and oppose violence and inequality in their neighbourhood. You will hear about the solutions that local women employed to prevent violence – which may not look the way you expect them to look – and even learn a Hindi proverb or two along the way.
Lu Gram is a Senior Research Fellow at UCL and holds a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship. He is a global health and development expert and has over a decade of experience working across the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In spare time, he plays role-playing games and finds Disco Elysium far too realistic a portrait of the modern world.
THE NME’S 1985 TOP 100 ALBUMS OF ALL TIME
In 1985 the New Musical Express sold over 100,000 copies every week. In November of that year it compiled a list of the 100 finest albums.
And what a strange and wonderful list it was. The product of a dozen musical tribes clashing for supremacy. Supposed ‘classics;’ were ignored, left-field masterpieces celebrated. New York and Berlin were chosen as the joint capitals of the musical world.
The list captures a heady time when musical certainties were being rethought and a new way of conceiving greatness being born; a time when a passion for, and attitude to, music defined your identity as never before or since.
Alastair McLellan has been fired from every band he joined – including, the day after their wedding, from his wife’s group. His abortive adventures on the wheels of steel are told in ‘BedroomDJ’. The closest he now comes to musical glory is sharing childcare duties with Guillemots founder Ffye Dangerfield.
THE AUTOMATION PARADOX – WILL SELF-DRIVING CARS HELP OR HINDER ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS?
Connected Autonomous Vehicles aka self-driving cars have been hailed as the future of cleaner, greener, more efficient transport, with fewer accidents, less congestion and lower emissions. But can we be confident in that?
It turns out no! There are scenarios where deploying self-driving cars could lead to more cars on the road, longer journeys and more carbon! And it’s not the result of some fantastical circumstances – just consumer behaviour, design decisions and algorithm optimisation.
Hear about how CAVs could be a force for good or for bad, and how decisions we make now could push it one way or the other.
Georgie Box has a Masters in General Engineering and works in the field of sustainable transport, driving innovation in decarbonisation and automation. She’ll most likely be spotted round London on her favourite mode of transport, though – her trusty bicycle, Bichael Bublé.
All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. This year we are partnering with The Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds.
Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along.
This month, in anticipation of the climate protest scheduled for April 21st, Nerd Nite London is hosting a climate special. We’ll learn about carbon budgets and carbon footprints, the emotional nuance of living in a warming planet, and what previous social movements can teach us about the tactics of protesting for the climate.
Address: The Backyard Comedy Club, 231 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 0EL / also online
Details: Wednesday, 19 April, 2023. Doors open at 7PM, event starts at 7.30PM. The online stream will go live at 7:15PM, with the speakers starting at 7.30PM and will be available for around 24 hours. Tickets on sale here
Carbon budgets and how not to spend them
Remaining carbon budgets are a tool for separating out the physics of climate change from the politics of climate action – but how are they calculated and what do they actually tell us? Robin will explore how long we have to tackle climate change, how confident we can be in these limits and why net zero is such a big deal. The talk will also compare carbon budgets to carbon footprints, and explain why all the articles on the environmental impacts of plant milks should make you scream.
Dr Robin Lamboll is a climate science and policy researcher at the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial college, where they apply data science techniques to climate problems. They were the UK poetry slam champion in 2019 and previously spoke at nerd nite about poetry and information theory. https://scienceisshiny.wordpress.com/ https://www.facebook.com/RobinLambollPoet/ https://twitter.com/RobinLamboll http://instagram.com/robinLamboll
The Emotionalization of the Ecological Crisis
The climate crisis will impact us in many ways, from how we eat, to how we build our homes, to how we power our lives. But one often overlooked element is how climate change will have a profound impact on our emotions. In fact, it already is having an impact. Drawing on current research and historical parallels, Professor Richard Firth-Godbehere will take us on an emotional trip into the climate crisis, looking at the forces that make so many complacent in the face of disaster. He will also examine how a new collection of feelings, known as solastalgia: a mixture of guilt, anger, and fear combined with a sense of loss for our homes and identities; is likely to become a backdrop to our lives, setting the tone for everything we do and every action we take in the coming century, much as a climate of fear did from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries in Europe. Finally, he’ll ask what we can do about the complacency around the climate crisis, and how we might learn more by listening to those who already experience solastalgia every day. Professor Richard Firth-Godbehere is one of the world’s leading experts on emotions. He is a Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Humanities at Woxsen University, India, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of the Emotions, Queen Mary University of London. He received a first-class degree from the University of London. During that time, he won two awards for academic excellence, alongside a Masters Degree MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a PhD From Queen Mary, University of London, where he was a Wellcome Trust Scholar. His award-winning interdisciplinary research walks the line between history, psychology, linguistics, philosophy and futurism. He examines how understandings of emotions change over time and space, and how these changes can influence the wider world. Already translated into over twenty languages, Richard’s latest bestseller, A Human History of Emotion: How the Way We Feel Built the World We Know, also known as Homo Emoticus is available from all good bookstores.
Fighting for the climate: What the hell are we doing?
Extinction Rebellion are planning to show up to Parliament with 100,000 people to demand a stop to new fossil fuel licenses. Have they got a hope in hell? Eh. Probably not, but Laura’s going anyway. Historic social movements got women the vote and trade unions labour laws. They also have lessons for climate activists today. Laura is going to talk about how current climate movements need to radicalise their tactics, starting with who they fight. Laura Thomas-Walters is a postdoctoral scholar at Oregon State University soon to move to Yale. She’s trying to put the scummy tactics of the advertising world to good use, getting people to behave in ways that are better for the planet. Sometimes she even practices what she preaches and marches for justice. She promises to avoid any and all guilt trips at the talk. Twitter handle: @LauraThoWal
All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. this year we are partnering with The Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds.
More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @NerdNiteLondon
Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along.
In March we’ll be finding out about about boundary markers, pub segregation and learning through movement. Be there and be square.
Address: The Backyard Comedy Club, 231 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 0EL / also online
Details: Wednesday, March 15, 2023. Doors open at 7PM, event starts at 7.30PM. The online stream will go live at 7:15PM, with the speakers starting at 7.30PM and will be available for around 24 hours. Tickets available here
Beating the Bounds – Discovering parish boundary markers in London
Before the year 1900 and before borough councils were in charge of your local government, the area we know as London today was governed by a patchwork of civil parishes and liberties all with their own funny laws and rules – most of them dating back several centuries. Boundary markers denoted where they met, and a number of them have survived to this day. In my talk you’ll learn more about them including a brief history of local government in London. And there’ll be maps. Afterwards you’ll look at buildings and streets differently!
Having grown up near the Iron Curtain in Germany, Tom Hilverkus has always been fascinated with boundaries. He has been researching the boundaries and wider history of local government areas in Inner London since 2010 and has recently started sharing his findings on Twitter at @ldn_boundaries. He’s also an avid record collector and musician so when he’s not searching for boundary markers you’ll probably find him in a record shop tracking down some obscure records.
Sensorimotor intentionality. Another set of almost unpronounceable words from Kay Scorah.
In the beginning, pre-birth and in our early years, all learning begins with the senses and with movement. We learn emotion from our movement and from how the physical world responds to that movement. If we are looking for a radical re-framing of ourselves at any stage in our life, for a new way of being and seeing, for pathways to take that didn’t seem open to us before, perhaps being more baby and re-visiting this sensorimotor way of interacting with the world can serve us. Let’s see….
Once a biophysicist at the Max Planck Institut in Frankfurt, Kay drifted into advertising before any of you were born and then into leadership training, stand up comedy and yoga wine drinking. Previous Nerdnite talks include: Ebola vs the post-menopausal woman, Immunosenescence and Dance Like an Electron.
The Segregated Pub – A History of Class and Gender-based Drinking
Ever wondered why pubs have 5 doors but often only one of them is in use? Unlike pubs today, which provide a single drinking space, the interior of the traditional pub reflected a strict social hierarchy and was subdivided into partitioned drinking areas based on social class and gender. This talk will provide a glimpse into the social history and architecture of the long-gone partitioned pub, with its clearly marked entrances to a Public Bar, Private Bar, Saloon Bar and Off-Sales areas.
Amir is a Stoke Newington history enthusiast, whose curiosity often leads him to research various topics some people may find extremely niche yet fascinating. His two previous Nerd Nite talks were about the beauty of decorative Victorian coal chute covers, and trend analysis of the commercial occupants of 116 shops in one street in Stoke Newington since the 1840s.
All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. this year we are partnering with The Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds.
More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @NerdNiteLondon
Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along. This November we’re going to be learning about Hitchcock, Antarctica and the @ sign.
Be there and be square.
Address: The Backyard Comedy Club, 231 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 0EL / also online*
Details: Wed 16 November 2022. Doors open at 7PM, event starts at 7.30PM. The online stream* will go live at 7:15PM, with the speakers starting at 7.30PM and will be available for around 24 hours.
Science on Ice: The U.S. Antarctic Program Antarctica is the highest, driest, coldest, windiest and emptiest continent in the world. Every year thousands of scientists and support staff venture to some of the planet’s most remote locations to science the heck out of the frozen continent. Get the inside scoop on what’s down there, and learn about some of the amazing, cutting-edge research conducted by the U.S. Antarctic Program. Spoiler: It’s more than just penguins and glaciers.
For six years, Mike Lucibella was the editor of The Antarctic Sun, the official newspaper of the U.S. Antarctic Program. As the program’s journalist, photographer, and podcaster, he’s traveled across Antarctica, interviewing scientists and researchers at all three U.S. research stations. He is also definitely not a shape-shifting alien monster from beyond the moon. Probably.
Where it’s @ The ‘at’ sign. As part of an email address or social media handle, we barely notice it. But there’s a lot more to this workhorse of online communication than meets the eye – and Lydia Thornley has been on a voyage of nerdery to explore, via shaggy dog stories, language, weights and measures, amphorae, morse code, accidental fame, a Japanese emoticon and, marvellously, Strudel.
Lydia Thornley is a graphic designer, creative director, sketcher – and all-purpose nerd. She loves a chance to delve into random subject-matter in unnecessary detail. Thus, she gets to work with other curious people on interesting stuff, and to follow her own lines of enquiry. This is Lydia’s fifth Nerd Nite London talk.
Alfred & Alma: The Hitchcocks in Islington Why is there an enormous sculpture of Alfred Hitchcock’s head next to the Regent’s canal? Hitchcock is one of the most recognisable and successful film directors in Hollywood history. But he started his career working in Islington where he also met his wife and unheralded constant collaborator Alma. Nigel’s talk looks back on a forgotten chapter of London’s cinematic past. Nigel Smith is a lifelong movie nerd. He’s part of the team producing BBC Radio 4’s film and TV programme Screenshot with Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones, co-founded the long-running Tufnell Park Film Club and now leads guided walking tours exploring London’s old cinemas. Follow him on Twitter @nigelcsmith and find out more about his tours at nigelsmithwalks.com
All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. this year we are partnering with The Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds.
Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along. This September we’re going to be learning about breakups, collecting things and one other topic tbd
Be there and be square.
Address: The Backyard Comedy Club, 231 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 0EL / also online*
Details: Wed 21 September 2022. Doors open at 7PM, event starts at 7.30PM. The online stream* will go live at 7:15PM, with the speakers starting at 7.30PM and will be available for around 24 hours. Tickets available here
Hunting For The Missing Piece: What Motivates People To Collect Items? Whether collecting travel memorabilia, or merchandise of one’s favorite team, or antiques from dusty vintage shops, we all have been involved in some form of collecting in our lives. People engaging in this activity are willing to invest sensible amounts of their energy, time, and money to seek, acquire, organize, and display multiple (and sometimes redundant) versions of the same item. But, what motivates people to collect? What keeps them hooked on an endless quest for the missing piece? We shed light on this unique and fascinating behavior that affects so many ordinary consumers. Join the talk to discover more! Elena Bocchi is a doctoral researcher in marketing at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), City University of London. Trained as a linguist in Italy, UK, and Austria, she is now specialising in consumer behaviour and consumer psychology. In one stream of her academic research, Elena applies cognitive psychological insights to better understand consumers’ judgments and consumption decisions, among which the factors that lead people towards excessive, and often, compulsive forms of consumption.
The Unexpected Joy of Heartbreak Rosie was dumped by email. But felt much better after correcting her ex-partner’s spelling. She investigates how breakups may present us with an opportunity for transformation and how LGBTQ breakup statistics may contradict some of our cultural assumptions about male and female desire. Rosie Wilby is an award-winning comedian, author and podcaster who has appeared many times on BBC Radio 4 programmes including Woman’s Hour, Saturday Live and Four Thought. Her first book Is Monogamy Dead? was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. Her new book The Breakup Monologues is based on her acclaimed podcast of the same name. You can follow Rosie on Twitter @rosiewilby or Instagram @breakupmonologues.
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Silver bullet or fig leaf? Carbon Capture and Storage and its role in reaching net zero emissions The government has committed the UK to reaching net zero by 2050, but some areas of the UK’s industry will prove hard to shift to carbon neutral, and many do not yet understand the individual lifestyle changes that a net-zero economy would require. There is also growing concern that we in the UK and globally are off track to meet our 2050 goals, and concern that 2050 is not soon enough. Is carbon capture and storage the answer? Or is it a snake oil solution that is distracting us from more viable alternatives?
Ruth Herbert is the Chief Executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association. She has spent a good portion of her career working on questions of energy policy, including as an economic advisor at the Treasury and Director of Strategy at the Low Carbon Contracts Company, and the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change.
All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. this year we are partnering with The Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds.
More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @nerdnitelondon, or liking us on Facebook at nerdnitelondon. for more information about The Shine Trust visit shinetrust.org.uk.