Undergraduate Virtual Tasters

What happens to our sense of self-worth when a machine, rather than another person, becomes a source of feedback, comparison, or affirmation?

Key questions we will explore:

● How does algorithmically-curated social comparison affect how we see ourselves?
● What role do dopamine-driven feedback loops, like likes and engagement metrics, play in self-worth?
● How is AI companionship starting to reshape self-perception and identity?

Sign up to explore the psychology behind our relationship with machines.

Could you decide whether a defendant is guilty of murder? Dr Collingwood will discuss the required elements for a crime to be made out, before exploring the defences that might apply. Packed with interactive activities, you will focus on one fictional case and two actual cases that test the necessity defence.

Key questions we will explore:

● Would you accept the defence in each case?
● Do you think necessity should be a defence to murder?

Sign up and take your seat as the judge.

What unseen forces shape the products we buy, the prices we pay, and how businesses operate across borders? This taster lecture explores the micro and macro forces driving the global marketplace. By the end, you’ll understand the complex web of influences shaping everything from your local store to international supply chains.

Key questions we will explore:

● How do everyday business decisions ripple out to affect global markets?
● Which macro forces are reshaping international trade right now?
● How can businesses balance micro-level choices with macro-level uncertainty?

Sign up to navigate the forces shaping the global marketplace.

Wealth is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to social class. This session looks at the lifestyles, networks, and specialised knowledge that shape it, challenging common assumptions about what it means to be “”rich.””

Key questions we will explore:

● How do certain jobs disconnect us from our true selves?
● What does it truly mean to bridge the opportunity gap?

Sign up for a closer look at the unseen layers of social class.

Every time your phone reroutes you around traffic, an algorithm is solving a problem in real time. This session unravels the secrets of data abstraction with graphs and the graph traversal techniques that underpin many modern computational tools, before dissecting a specific algorithm used to solve real-world navigation challenges.

Key questions we will explore:

● How do we represent real-world networks, like road maps, as data?
● What algorithm actually finds the shortest route?

Sign up to see the tech behind your GPS in a whole new light.

You are always changing and growing. You are different both physically and mentally from your younger self. Yet we still want to say it was you who changed and grew, that you have persisted despite your mind and body being constantly in flux.

In this talk you will be introduced to the problem of personal identity.

Key questions we will explore:

● What is it for you to be you?
● What are the surprising implications of this problem for neuroscience, economics, and the law?


Sign up to explore the problem of personal identity and what it really means to be you.

Cheap food is rarely cheap overall. Part of the bill arrives decades later, in our health or in the land and climate. This session looks at why the healthiest diet isn’t always the greenest, and what happened when governments taxed sugar and fat.

Key questions we will explore:

● What did share prices reveal the week the new weight-loss jabs arrived?
● Who ends up bearing the cost of a healthier food system?

Sign up to find out why there really is no such thing as a cheap lunch.