The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas

Take two top academics, some dangerous ideas, add one comedian and it’s the force of nature that is the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas (CODI). Hosted by comedian Susan Morrison, and now in its eleventh year, CODI is sixty minutes of rapid-fire research from some of the finest minds in the country.

Scrap school trips? 

School trips may form some of your fondest school memories, but do you remember learning anything? For some children they may be their only chance to visit a museum, zoo or foreign country but do they create experiential equality, or further widen educational gaps? Are trips pointless to the children who already go to these places with their families? Are they overwhelmingly exciting for those who never do? After a period of disrupted education, Sarah-Jane Judge (The University of Edinburgh) asks if school trips should be scrapped in favour of more classroom time?

Old dogs need new tricks

What does a cognitive neuroscientist, a university lecturer and a tourist guide have in common? Quite a lot, as Dr Thomas H Bak (The University of Edinburgh), who works in all three roles, has discovered to his great surprise. He will take you on a journey of life-long learning as life-long discovery. Importantly, no-one is too old for this adventure. On the contrary, the older we get, the more important it becomes for our brain and mental health and wellbeing that we cultivate curiosity, open-mindedness and a passion for learning new things!