Main Events

According to the Slavery Footprint survey, the average family in the UK unknowingly employs 90 slaves, often hidden in plain sight. Dr Astrid Leuba has been working against modern slavery and human trafficking for many years. Formerly head of corporate responsibility at British Airways, she is now developing anti-slavery strategy and policy for Cancer Research UK and was recently nominated as Star of the Year for her work by Unseen, a UK charity running the UK Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline and providing safehouses for survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking. Today she will guide us through how we can learn to identify signs of potential modern slavery, knowing how to report them, and better understand this troubled system of which we are all a part.

We are also joined by spoken word artist, Amy Anam Cara, whose work reflects on the impacts of colonialism and imperialism on mental health and the ways in which the comfort of the global North demands the continued oppression of the global South.

“Wouldn’t we all love to do things just ‘because’, without the pressure to have a good reason?

Steve Chapman is an artist, writer, speaker, consultant and coach, who encourages people to do just that! Interested in creativity and the human condition, he works with individuals and organisations to find creative and counter-intuitive ways to help free themselves from ever-tightening loops of stuckness, shame and imperfection, nurturing, instead, the freedom of spontaneous self-expression, creativity and innovation.

We are also thrilled to have some poetry from Kay Scorah, a multi-skilled creative, who brings 70 years of experiment, risk, rage and learning to her writing.

Is age just a number?

You may have heard of the Baby Boomers, the Millennials and Gen Z. But have you heard of the Young Olds, the Mid Olds or the Old Olds? As human life expectancy has increased, there have been significant step changes in the way we perceive our life stages and their significance, and new research is proffering ever more nuanced categorisations of our experiences as a distinct ‘Generation’.

Vivien Louizos is a Counsellor and Life Coach for young people and adults, with a special interest in developmental psychology. Her research centres on the emergence of new categories in the life cycle, and the influence of our chronological age on the choices and decisions that we make.

As we continue to live later and longer, how do the determinants of our life experience change? To what extent are we influenced in our life choices by our age, and the unique circumstances of our stage of life? How real is the phenomenon of ‘My Generation’ – and is it biology, psychology, or the idiosyncrasies of the times in which we are born?

We are also thrilled to have a multi-generational poetry slot, with Joseph Gale Evans and Nadira Wallace each offering some spoken word across the generation ‘gap’.

I Scream, You Scream!! To mark the closing of our Summer season, this week we are paying homage to that oh so sweet, delectable and enduring symbol of Summertime to both young and old – the mighty Ice Cream cone!

Tom Boulton has worked as an ice cream scientist for Unilever & Little Moons for ten years. Today he will enlighten us with a talk on the history and culture of this most iconic sweet treat; the technology and processes in how it is made and what goes into concocting the best flavours. Yum yum!

We are also thrilled to welcome back Morwenna James, spoken word artist and published poet who uses radical honesty and self -deprecation to explore universal themes with a playful, humorous slant.

Ever been moved by Nietzsche’s philosophical musings, but been desperate to hear them sung in the style of Bob Dylan? Well, today is your lucky day, as we are joined by the inimitable Paul Lodge, musician and Professor of philosophy at Oxford University, who does just that!

Join us for a titillating blend of music, philosophy and literature as Paul offers his unique musical interpretations of the work of Nietzsche as well as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walter Benjamin, and Margaret Cavendish.

Paul’s songs have been featured on BBC Radio Oxford Introducing and BBC Radio Cumbria. In 2022 he launched his album Preludes to Wordsworth in the poet’s home, Rydal Mount, at the invitation of Wordsworth’s descendants.

We are also joined by comedian and poet, Sam Rix who will bring us a joyous medley of hilarious spoken word exploring creativity, social media and everything in between.

There will be four fantastic songs performed by our very own Sunday Assembly Band, so bring your best singing voices and dancing shoes! Please stay after for tea, biscuits, and engaging conversations with members of our community.

Right now, something strange is going on in the cosmos… Scientists are uncovering a catalogue of weird phenomena that simply can’t be explained by our long-established theories of the universe.

After decades of fruitless searching, could we finally be catching glimpses of a profound new view of our physical world? Or are we being fooled by cruel tricks of the data?

To celebrate the launch of his recent book, experimental physicist at CERN and acclaimed science presenter Harry Cliff will take us through some of this groundbreaking new research.

Sunday Assembly London has a new home! We are very excited to welcome you all to our inaugural Assembly at our new HQ of the Backyard Comedy Club in Bethnal Green, a legendary venue on the London events scene having played host to some of the best acts in the country! To sillybrate this joyous marriage of our two institutions we are today exploring the relationship between Science and Comedy, with two of the funniest nerds in the business! Dr Steve Cross is a stand-up comedian, presenter and founder of CLEVERmakeFUNNY, which trains academics, museums professionals, software engineers, architects and lawyers to make comedy part of their lives.

Dr Steve will talk to us about how finding the funny side of science helps to unpack its biases and helps us drive social and political change by embracing the concept of absurdity.

We are also absolutely thrilled to be tickled by the presence of award-winning comedian with a Phd in Statistics, Merry Martyn. Often seen performing with a Rubik’s cube, Merry was the winner of Queerovision in August ‘22, semi-finalist for Comedy Virgins #INGTE ’22 and West End New Act of the Year ’23.