The Best of Bristol Lectures, which get underway on Monday [11 April], are organised by students to give fellow students, staff and members of the public a chance to experience the best teaching Bristol University has to offer.
Over 900 students and 12 societies voted online for their favourite lecturer, or for other lecturers they would like to hear. There will be nine free lectures taking place throughout the week.
This year's series gathered more votes than ever before, and the mind-enhancing line-up promises to appeal to a wide range of interests - from political economics to earthquakes, Yeats to DNA repair.
Professor Keith Stanton, from the University of Bristol Law School, will kick off the series with a lecture looking at how the banking industry is being reformed to improve its resilience, being held in the Wills Memorial Building at 1pm on Monday.
It’s the brainchild of Bristol University graduate Tom Corfield, who founded the Best of Bristol Lectures in 2011 and has since successfully rolled the Free Range University (known as Fruni) concept out to other universities across the country, enabling university teaching to be more widely enjoyed and accessed.
This year’s programme also features a 40 minute guide to political philosophy, addressing who gets all the good stuff in life such as beautiful houses and great jobs.
Other topics include how civil engineers and geophysicists can predict the next big earthquake; the wonderful and exciting world of WB Yeats; and whether we should fear our own deaths.
Esther Saunders, Chair of the Best of Bristol organising committee, said: “There’s such an interesting line-up this year, with many topical and thought-provoking subjects being discussed throughout the week.
“We hope that people from across the city, not just those at the University, will pop along to experience the inspirational teaching on their doorstep.”
The Best of Bristol Lectures is a student-led project, supported by the University of Bristol and Bristol SU.
The events are free and open to everyone and there’s no need to book, but seats are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The full line-up is available on the Bristol SU website.