Talks and Theatre talks are for a broad audience, including non-scientists. Talks take place in the Faraday room, whereas Theatre talks are jointly hosted with the Royal Institution in its iconic Lecture Theatre. After each, we host drinks in our Faraday and Old Post rooms.
Talks18 May
Frontiers of AI
Mikhail Burtsev and Yang-Hui He explore advances in AI, from long-context transformers to the impact of machine intelligence on science.
Talks5 Mar
Simon and the ATLAS
In the third Simon Norton Lecture, Robert Curtis will describe Simon’s pivotal contributions to the classic ATLAS of Finite Groups.
Talks27 Nov 2025
The magic of DAU
Dmitry Kaledin reflects on the DAU project—an audacious theatrical experiment probing science and belief in the Soviet Union and beyond.
Theatre talks29 Sep 2025
How innovation works
In the Royal Institution’s lecture theatre, Martin Reeves reveals the startling truth about how innovation happens in science and technology.
Theatre talks15 Sep 2025
Maths in the age of AI
In the Royal Institution’s lecture theatre, Prof. Yang-Hui He reflects on how growing AI-human collaboration is shaping the future of maths.
Theatre talks7 Jul 2025
Decoding life with AI
Mikhail Burtsev explains how artificial intelligence is helping to decipher genomes in the Royal Institution’s iconic lecture theatre.
Talks12 Feb 2025
A friendly monster
In the second Simon Norton Lecture, Prof. Leonard Soicher will convey the mystery and the magic of the monster group to a general audience.
Talks5 Jun 2024
The future of AI
Journalists from MIT Technology Review discuss some of the risks and opportunities around AI and how the magazine will be covering them.
Talks12 Feb 2024
A monstrous talent
In the inaugural Simon Norton Lecture, Prof. Peter Cameron celebrates the mathematician's achievements and talks about Norton algebras.
Talks1 Nov 2023
Listening to maths
The luthier Robert Brewer Young explains the geometry of the violin, with musical accompaniment on two violins made by Stradivari himself.
Theatre talks24 Feb 2023
A revolution in geometry
At the Royal Institution's Friday Evening Discourse, Prof. Yang-Hui He recounts the creation of modern physics at the hands of geometry.
Theatre talks8 Feb 2023
Imagination machine
Our Trustee Martin Reeves explores imagination at its core, rethinking previous romantic notions, asking if we can harness it systematically.
Talks31 Jan 2023
Design meets maths
Designers and theorists talk about the intersection of design and mathematics in visualisation, architecture, digital design and industry.
Talks6 Dec 2022
Spheres of influence
The Ukrainian mathematician Prof. Maryna Viazovska, who won this year’s Fields Medal, joins us for a virtual interview and discussion.
Talks1 Nov 2022
Skyrme theory at 60
Prof. Nicholas Manton will talk about the 60-year history of Skyrme theory, as he launches his new book on the subject.
Talks28 Oct 2022
AI mathematics
The London Institute hosts a day symposium on using AI to speed up mathematical discovery, followed by a panel discussion, drinks and dinner.
Talks7 Jul 2022
Accelerating innovation
The London Institute and the Ditchley Foundation host an afternoon discussion and drinks on the science of innovation and how to speed it up.
Talks28 Mar 2022
Quantifying AI
Peter Cochrane talks about how quantifying machine intelligence, distinct from biological intelligence, can quell the debate on AI’s future.
Theatre talks10 Mar 2022
Uncovering the OS of life
Breakthroughs in cell programming are kicking off a biological analogue of the silicon revolution, allowing us to predictably engineer life.
Talks13 Dec 2021
Science of storytelling
Prof. Alison Woollard explores the science of storytelling and storytelling in science—a neglected virtue in modern scientific research.
Theatre talks1 Dec 2021
Theory of Everything
Professor Yang-Hui He tells the captivating story of the holy grail of science: the mathematical quest for a unifying theory of everything.
Theatre talks26 Oct 2021
Talking to Penrose
Sir Roger Penrose talks about physics, philosophy and art in a conversation with Thomas Fink and Yang-Hui He in the Faraday lecture theatre.
Talks27 Sep 2021
Maths & machines
Conrad Wolfram describes how two brothers harnessed machines to do mathematics, changing the way we think about computational thinking.
Talks21 Sep 2021
In search of serendipity
The London Institute is hosting a lunch at the Royal Institution to promote serendipity between leaders in business, finance and physics.
Talks26 Mar 2021
23 challenges
A one-day symposium of physicists and mathematicians to write down a list of the 23 most important mathematical challenges of our time.
Talks29 Oct 2019
Science of Business IV
A dinner and discussion about collective imagination, strategies for acting on multiple timescales and how to respond to distant threats.
Talks2 Sep 2019
Making sure Skynet behaves itself
Marc Warner talks about how we should manage the safety of embedded artificial intelligence both individually and on a collective scale.
Talks28 May 2019
Science of Business III
A dinner and discussion about speeding up innovation, forecasting technological change and the collective action problem in climate change.
Talks29 Oct 2018
Science of Business II
A dinner and discussion about commitment and flexibility, acting on multiple timescales and learning and forgetting in the age of AI.
Talks22 May 2018
Science of Business I
A dinner and discussion about applying principles from evolution and ecology to seemingly intractable problems in business and politics.
Talks28 Aug 2014
The chain fountain
John Biggins talks about how he solved the mystery of the chain fountain, in which a chain spontaneously leaps up as it flows out of a jar.
Talks10 Dec 2013
Calculation & creativity
Thomas Fink talks about physicists’ inner drive to systematize the world around them and the role of imagination in building theories.
Talks12 Sep 2012
The minority game
Anthonius Coolen talks about a game of motorways, bars and financial markets solved by the statistical mechanics of disordered systems.
Talks12 Jun 2012
Fractal architecture
Rob Farr talks about the physics of architecture and how self-similar mechanical structures can make seemingly impossible designs a reality.