Talking Humanities
Talking Humanities is a podcast from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Durham University. Each episode showcases research projects and reflections from scholars working across the arts and humanities. It explores collaborative work taking place within the university and with partners beyond it. The series highlights how these projects reshape the ways we think and work, and aims to inspire further reflection and activity.
Episodes
Law and the Humanities - Dr Maryam Mirza and Professor Tom Hamilton
ABOUT THIS EPISODEOur conversation is about law and the humanities. It asks what happens when we approach law not just as rules and institutions, but through literature, history and human experience — whose voices are heard, whose are missing, and how people live with the consequences of legal power.GUESTSDr Maryam Mirza, Associate Professor of South Asian Literature, Durham UniversityStaff profil
From Ancient Texts to Ethical Tech - Dr Thea Sommerschield and Professor Sue Black
Aeneas article (Nature, 2025): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09292-5
Predicting the Past free online interface: https://predictingthepast.com/ (with links to the teaching syllabus and code base)
Aeneas release blogpost: https://deepmind.google/blog/aeneas-transforms-how-historians-connect-the-past/
Birthday Invitation of Sulpicia Lepidina, one of the earliest known examples of writing
Rivers of Ink Part 2 - Ross Ashton and Karen Monid
A visit to St Paul’s Church, Jarrow, to hear how Rivers of Ink reimagines the Codex Amiatinus through projection, sound, and scholarship.
Find out more about Transformative Humanities
Rivers of Ink Part 1 - Professor Francis Watson & Lauren Randall
In this episode we bring together Professor Francis Watson from the department of Theology and Religion and Lauren Randall, a Phd researcher at Durham University. They are both working on the manuscript Codex Amiatinus, the world’s oldest bible and about to tour their latest project, Rivers of Ink which looks at the making of the Codex Amiatinus and how it came to be produced in the North East of
Thinking Space: How the Humanities Shape Our View of the Cosmos
Our guests:Dr Nikita ChiuDr Chris CowieDr Vladimir Brljak Find out more about Transformative Humanties.
The Absence/Presence of Durham’s Black History
Please visit the website for the walking trail: https://durhams-black-history.humap.site/Link for Sean Creighton and also relevant media links: https://durhams-black-history.humap.site/about Link to Durham's Palatinate Newspaper: https://www.palatinate.org.uk
Science and the Humanities: Modelling the Black Death
Overview:The Black Death of 1348–9 stands “unchallenged as the greatest disaster in documented human history,” yet the characteristics of the disease that killed approximately half the population of Europe in just a handful of years have long confounded academics. Although largely thought to be caused by Yersinia pestis, it is still unclear how the disease spread so quickly in a preindustrial soci
Coal Stories: Exploring Durham’s Hidden Mining Past with Dr Adrian Green and Sandra Bell
A map of the full Coal Stories route can be found here. For the podcast we walked from Market Place (13 on map)) past St Mary-le-Bow Church (1) and down to the coal seam (2).You can find the guide at the following shops:Palace Green Library shopDurham Cathedral shopBeamish Museum ShopOr you can email durhamminingmuseumsecretary@gmail.com to request a copy of the book.
VR, AI & Empathy: Rethinking English with Dr. Alistair Brown
In this episode of Talking Humanities, Dr. Alistair Brown, Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities and Modern Literature at Durham University, discusses the importance of studying English in today’s world. Walking along the River Wear, he explains how English fosters empathy and story craft—skills crucial not only to personal development but also to modern industries like tech, where understandi
Durham University and the BFI - Dr Ladan Cockshut, Professor Simon James and Stuart Burnside
Welcome to our final podcast from the BFI Reuben Library. In this episode we join Dr Ladan Cockshut and Professor Simon James from Durham University in conversation with Stuart Burnside, Video Games Manager in the certification unit at the British film Institute.
Their discussion centres on the legitimisation of gaming research and its connection to science fiction. It also addresses the loss of
Durham University and the BFI - Dr Ladan Cockshut with Stuart Burnside
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Durham University and the BFI - Professor Simon James with Senior Librarian Katie Reddington
This is the second in a series of conversations with specialists from the BFI and is a discussion between the BFI Reuben Library’s Senior Librarian Katie Reddington and Professor Simon James. Simon James is Professor of Victorian Literature in the Department of English Studies. He has edited five H. G. Wells novels and six numbers of The Wellsian, the learned journal of the H. G. Wells Society, an
Durham University and the BFI - Introducing the BFI Reuben Library with Senior Librarian Katie Reddington
More information about Transformative HumanitiesFind out more about the BFI
Accessing Classics - Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson
Watch a short film from Durham University produced by Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson.Classics in The North East: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTRtSzhuzZI&t=32s
Our Natural Heritage: An Interdisciplinary Conversation - Professor Bob Baxter and Dr Simona Capisani
Read about Margaret Bradshaw's Honorary Degree from Durham University.Read more about Transformative Humanities at Durham University.
The Manner of Leaving - Dr Georgina Robinson
Content warning: topics discussed in this episode include death, deaths during Covid and infant death. Listeners who may be sensitive to these topics, please take note.
Medieval Science - Professor Giles Gasper and Professor Brian Tanner
In this episode we are in Durham with Professor Giles Gasper and Professor Brian Tanner.
Giles is Professor in High Medieval History specialising in the intellectual history of the high middle ages and particularly in the development of theology. Brian is an Emiritus professor in the department of physics. They are both member of the interdisciplinary Ordered Universe project which studies the s
