13 February 2008

High demand for Saturday Evening Lectures

Demand for tickets for this year’s Saturday Evening Lecture series at the University of Dundee is running at an all-time high.

A combination of a prestigious line-up of speakers and a new easy-access online ticketing system has resulted in a rush for places at the lectures, Scotland’s longest running series of free public lectures.

Two events in particular are attracting strong interest - the lecture by acclaimed author Jung Chang on March 8th to mark International Women’s Day, and the Churchill Commemoration Lecture by Andrew Roberts on Friday May 9th. Both are set to be full to capacity and people interested in attending are advised to book tickets soon.

"We knew we had put together a very strong programme of talks this year with a mix of very good speakers and interesting subjects, and the demand for tickets has reflected this," said Joan Concannon, Director of External Relations at the University.

"Our first two talks, from Dan Snow and Sir John Lister-Kaye, were both extremely well attended and seem to have set the tone for this year’s series. We are anticipating that we’ll have to put the `House full’ signs up for both Jung Chang and Andrew Roberts and tickets for the other lectures are also going extremely well."

"Our new online booking system has proved very popular and people are taking advantage of it to register early interest in the lectures, which is great to see. We are so grateful to the many loyal audience members who have been coming to Saturday Evening Lectures year after year and we hope that newer audience members like what they hear and come back for more in the coming years."

The next lecture takes place this Saturday when Professor Chris Barratt, an expert in reproductive medicine based at the University, will discuss, `The opportunities, challenges and dilemmas of `liberal’ framework of human embryo research’.

Professor Barratt is a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the national authority governing fertilisation and embryo research. He will examine the ethical frameworks which need to be established to maintain the confidence of the public and scientific community in an often controversial area of research.

The lecture takes place at 6 pm on Saturday in the New Teaching Block, Old Hawkhill.

Tickets are available by contacting events@dundee.ac.uk, calling the events office on 01382 388046, or at the reception at the University Tower building on Perth Road.

They can also be booked online through the e-ticketing system at: www.dundee.ac.uk/externalrelations/events/sels/2008/sels2008.html then click on the link that says "Request your e-tickets here" underneath the Saturday Evening Lecture Series logo.

The rest of the series of Saturday Evening Lectures 2008 is:

• 1 March 2008
  Mark Jones, Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum - `The V&A and the role of museums in contemporary society’
• 8 March 2008
  Dr Jung Chang - `Mao: The Unknown Story’
• 19 April 2008
  Jason Lewis - `Expedition 360: A Human Powered Navigation Circumnavigation of the Planet’
• Friday 9 May 2008
  Churchill Commemoration Lecture
  Andrew Roberts - `Churchill and his Detractors’

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk