Fireside Chats – NEW season 3, spring 2021

Join us and join in – our third series exclusively for Members and their guests

As our Fireside Chats mini-series in 2020 were so popular we are running a third series this term.

Running alongside our 2020-21 programme of events for the academic year, we are holding live streamed Fireside Chats with Imperial experts on the occasional Friday afternoon @ 4pm. Each event will feature a mini-lecture and Q & A session with the audience.

To view the recordings from previous episodes in 2020 and see which leading figures starred in our first two seasons in 2020, click through to Fireside chats - our mini series in 2020

Exclusively for Members of Friends and their guests, the spring Fireside Chats are part of the annual Membership benefits. If you are a Member you can book FREE (fireside) places for each chat.

If you would like to join us and join in, click here to discover the full benefits of becoming an annual Member and how to join. The annual subscription is only £30 – or £20 if paying by direct debit!

See the next episodes of Fireside Chats below. And make sure you are registered with us to hear about further Season 3 chats as they are launched!

We are heavily reliant on ticket revenue alongside Membership subscriptions to fund the running of Friends therefore we have been severely impacted by the loss of event income due to the pandemic.

On the horizon is the next programme to create. We would really welcome donations to enable us to organise and run our programme of events for the academic year 2021-22.

We hope you can help!

Click here to donate

Thank you so much!

What lies beyond the Higgs boson?

Our esteemed expert Professor Sir Tejinder Singh Virdee FRS covered 'What lies beyond the Higgs boson?' in this exclusive event for Members and their guests. Sir Tejinder Virdee is one of the founding fathers of the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider which in 2012 shared the credit for discovering the elusive Higgs boson. Read more

Managing Black Swan Risks

The Black Swan theory describes an unpredictable event characterised by extreme rarity, severe impact, and the widespread insistence it was obvious in hindsight. Members heard from the expert who has advised the UK Government on managing Black Swan risks. Read more

Latest

Managing Black Swan Risks

The Black Swan theory describes an unpredictable event characterised by extreme rarity, severe impact, and the widespread insistence it was obvious in hindsight. Members heard from the expert who has advised the UK Government on managing Black Swan risks.
What lies beyond the Higgs boson?

Our esteemed expert Professor Sir Tejinder Singh Virdee FRS covered 'What lies beyond the Higgs boson?' in this exclusive event for Members and their guests. Sir Tejinder Virdee is one of the founding fathers of the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider which in 2012 shared the credit for discovering the elusive Higgs boson.
Friends 2021-22 Programme Appeal

Friends are reliant on event revenue and Memberships therefore our income is depleted through the pandemic. On the horizon is the 2021-22 programme. To create this, we need your support to provide a wealth of knowledge for a further year. We do hope you can help - click here to donate!
“Thanks to Imperial”

This inaugural talk was by the new Friends of Imperial College Chair, Professor David Southwood CBE. He described how, thanks to Imperial and the great institution that it is, it set him off on a career which took him all over the globe and even (vicariously) to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and to the stars beyond.

Drugs, booze and politics: finding a balance

Professor David Nutt, a well known proponent of drug law reform, talked about evidence-based analysis of the harm to the individual and wider community arising from alcohol, tobacco and a range of drugs, and how this is or should be used to inform policy at the national level.
Our committee

The committee of Friends of Imperial College
Black holes, entropy and strings

A full lecture theatre heard why black holes are amongst the most extraordinary objects in the universe.
Chirality and the future of electronics

Dr Jess Wade BEM, Imperial physicist, explained how in the right circumstances carbon could make a great replacement for silicon in a new wave of electronic devices.
Join Friends as a Member

Join as an annual Member and enjoy a range of benefits including free live streamed lectures, exclusive ‘fireside chat’ mini-lectures, reductions on ticket prices for in-person lectures and special Member-only visits. Click here for full details.
Friends Christmas Party

Exclusively for Members and their guests, we held an entertaining hour of short talks, music and fun. For those Friends who had missed our social post-lecture drinks this year, this was (virtually) for them.
Genomic Medicine: Report from the forefront

Biomedical research has become a booming area of science with major implications for just about every aspect of medicine. In this lecture, we learnt if we are ready for them.
Behind-the-Scenes @ Physics Plasma Group

A Members-only exclusive Behind-the-Scenes visit to the largest university-based pulsed-power generator, MAGPIE, at Imperial College London
Cure: mind over body

At this soirée, our Members were fascinated by author Jo Marchant's talk on alternatives to prescription drugs. The question 'can our minds really heal our bodies?' was dicsussed and it engaged everyone.
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