The Lee Seng Tee Distinguished Lecture was endowed by Dr Lee Seng Tee in 2005 on the occasion of the College’s 40th anniversary and it is a major event in the academic year at Wolfson.
Lee Lecture 2025
We were delighted to welcome Julia Gillard AC, the former Prime Minister of Australia, as our speaker this year. Julia spoke on 'Reflection & Renewal - responding to polarisation in today's world', with a particular focus on polarisation around gender equality and the role of science.
Julia served as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia (2010-13) and remains the first and only woman to have held this office. She is currently Chair of the Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation which supports science to solve urgent health challenges.
Revisit some interesting ideas from past Lee Seng Tee Distinguished Lectures:
- How to change the world. A quick guide - Sandi Toksvig OBE
As a Cambridge alumna, Sandi returned to the university after being awarded the first Qantabrigian Q+ Fellowship by the LGBTQ+ research programme which is based in the Department of Sociology. During her Fellowship, Sandi will be developing a new Mappa Mundi project, a digital resource documenting women’s position, achievements and struggles across the globe. The project was the topic of her talk here at Wolfson, 'How to change the world. A quick guide.'
This event took place on 1 May 2024.
- Race, Scientific Racism, and Genetics - Dr Adam Rutherford
This event took place on 24 November 2021.
- The Rules of Racial Standing: Race and Racism in the Era of the Public Lynching of George Floyd - Dr Nicola Rollock in conversation with Professor Paul Ramchandani
This event took place on 5 May 2021
- The Great Economic Transformation Needed to Address Climate Breakdown: Let Ideas be International, Goods Homespun, but, Above all, Let Finance be National - Ann Pettifor
This event took place on 15 May 2019.
- State, Faith, Violence: Case Studies in the Coercion of Belief - Neil MacGregor OM AO FSA
This event took place on 11 May 2017
Recordings of earlier Lee Seng Tee Distinguished Lectures are available in the University's archive.