Inaugural Lectures

Inaugural lectures provide new professors an opportunity to share their research and expertise with a broad audience, and to introduce their work to the Swansea community, both academic and public.

The following documents demonstrate the vast scope of scholarship taking place at Swansea University throughout the years. 

Browse by decade:

2000s

Noel Thompson, 2002 "'Unsocial objects disgraceful to humanity': some ideas of consumption in British socialist thought"

John Baylis, 2002 "Nuclear Ethics, Realism and Utopianism: the 'permanent dialogue' revisited"

Mike Webster, 2001 "Going with the Flow - Computational Rheology"

1990s

Richard Taylor, 1999 "Cinema, History, Politics: The Reel and the Real"

Laurence Goldstein, 1999 "Paradoxes shallow and deep"

Alan McGregor, 1998 "Heavenly Bodies and Black Holes"

Dame June Clark, 1997 "The elements of nursing are all but unknown" Florence Nightingale

Michael J. Barnsley, 1997 "Reflections on a changing planet: observing the Earth from space"

John A Matthews, 1997 "Glaciers: The New Legacy"

Nigel Weatherill, 1997 "Going Supersonic - from aeroplanes to cars!"

Sir John Meurig Thomas, 1997 "The Viability of the Academic"

David Eastwood, 1997 "Making Public Policy in Nineteenth-Century Britain"

Reginald F Byron, 1995 "On the Understanding of Culture"

John Bennett, 1995 "The Transition from Communism to Capitalism"

John Furlong, 1995 "Do Teachers Need Universities?"

Gino Bedani, 1994 "Church and State in Italian History. Origins of the Present Crisis"

Hywel Francis, 1994 "Do Miners Read Dickens? Communities, Universities and a New Beginning"

Michael J Cardy, 1994 "Images of Oliver Cromwell in Eighteenth-Century France"

Jennifer Levin, 1994 "An Ethical Profession?"

Hywel Teifi Edwards, 1994 "Arwr Glew Erwau'r Glo"

Lynn Mainwaring, 1994 "Britain's North and South and the World's North and South or Why is Mid Glamorgan poorer than Singapore?"

Paul E. Preece, 1993 "Chemical Engineering - A Process of Change"

George Boyce, 1993 "The Sure and Confusing Drum: Ireland and the First World War"

D.H. Gagen, 1993 "Coming to Terms with the Civil WAr, Modern Productions of Lope De Vega's 'Fuenteovejuna'"

Stephen F. Witt, 1991 "The Impact of Tourism on Wales"

Alan Lloyd, 1990 "Cult, Myth and Kingship in Pharonic Egypt"

Murial E. Chamberlain, 1990 "Who Founded the Liberal Party"

Keith Smith, 1990 "How Green is My Valium? (Are Chemicals Kindly or Killers?)"

P.F. Brain, 1990 "Mindless Violence?: The Nature and Biology of Aggression"

1980s

J. Graham Beaumont , 1989 "On Reading the Subject"

Kenneth Board, 1988 "The Ubiquitous Transistor"

Michael G. Rodd, 1988 "IT in Manufacturing - The Map to a New Society"

Cedric Taylor, 1988 - "A Contribution to Travel"

Peter Townsend, 1988 "..... a thousand words (The development of computer graphics)"

C.C. Harris, 1987 "Civilisation, Society and Tradition: Sociology and the University in Contemporary Society"

Ilham Dilman, 1986 "Proust: Human Separateness and the Longing for Union"

Ralph Parker, 1986 "From Power Stations to Aeroplanes: What do Mechanical Engineers do?"

G. W. Roderick, 1985 "Universities: The Pursuit of Bread, Knowledge and Freedom"

Rhys W. Williams, 1985 "Making up for Lost Time: Aspects of West German Fiction in the 1950s and 1960s"

F. J. Toye, 1984 "A Defence of Development Economics"

Sydney Anglo, 1983 "The Courtier's Art: Systematic Immorality in the Renaissance"

Ralph A. Griffiths, 1983 "'This royal throne of kings, this scept'red isle': The English realm and nation in the later middle ages"

David Hills, 1983 "Lear's Shadows: some problems in the reading of a literary text"

R.J. Owen, 1982 "Micro to Macro Engineering Computations"

Leslie Symons, 1982 "The Land-Use Challenge: Eastern and Western Responses "

Valerie Minogue, 1982 "Trials of Life"

I.M. Williams, 1981 "Continuity and Change - the role of the university in the education of adults"

David T. Herbert, 1981 "Social Problems and the City: A Geographic View"

Brynley F. Roberts, 1980 "Brut Tysilio"

James Woodward, 1980 "Russian Literature and the Russian Language"

Richard Shannon, 1980 "Mr. Gladstone and Swansea 1887"

1970s

Nicholas Stephens, 1979 "Geomorphology in the Service of Man"

J.M. Alexander, 1979 "Design - A Continuing Challenge to the Mechanical Engineer"

Professor J.S. Ryland, 1978 "Neptune's Realm: Explorations in Marine Biology"

M. Chazan, 1977 "The Expanding Role of the Psychologist in the Education Service"

T.R. Owen, 1977 "Geology '77 - A New Exciting Science"

R.W. Pethybridge, 1976 "Academics and Revolution"

J.H. Beynon, 1976 "Attitudes and Innovation in Research"

C. Collard, 1976 "The Study of Greek Tragedy"

Bryan Niblett, 1976 "Computer Science and the Law"

Alan. G. Hawkes, 1975 "The Development of Statistical Ideas and their Applications"

A.H. Diverres, 1975 "French at the Universities"

D. Ellis Evans, 1975 "Gorchest Y Celtaid Yn Yr Hen Fyd"

J.V. Oldfield, 1975 "The Designer's Image"

J. Gwyn Griffiths, 1974 "The Divine Tribunal"

M.J. Artis, 1973 "Economists and Inflation"

R.B. Gravenor, 1973 "Systems and Things"

D.Williams, 1973 "On the Toss of a Coin"

J.D. Davies, 1973 "Famous Failures and Structural Safety"

Colyn Grey Morgan, 1972 "Some Light on Physics"

D.G. Pritchard, 1972 "Educational Opportunity for the Handicapped"

Maurice Broady, 1972 "Social Administration: Some Current Concerns"

A. Pelter, 1972 "Organic Chemistry - A Perspective View"

Richard Greenwood, 1972 "The Geography of Economic Development"

H.O. Foulkes, 1971 "The Mathematics of Patterns and Arrangements"

D.Z. Phillips, 1971 "Some Limits to Moral Endeavour"

David Aspinall, 1971 "The Coming of Age of Computer Technology"

1960s

Edward Nevin, 1969 "Economics: Waiting for Godot"

John Gould, 1969 "Ancient Poetry and Modern Readers"

D.V. Ager, 1969 "Geology as an Environmental Science"

W.H. Greenleaf, 1968 "The World of Politics"

D.C. Cooper, 1968 "Computer Science: Past, Present and Future"

P. J. Syrett, 1968 "The Science of Plant Biology"

J. Oliver, 1967 "Climatology and the Environmental Sciences"

T.O. Jeffries, 1967 "Nuclear Power and the Systems Engineer"

W.A. Cole, 1967 "Economic History as a Social Science"

William Gosling, 1967 "The Genesis of Electrical Engineering"

J. Dutton, 1967 "University Physics in Today's World"

J.A. Beardmore, 1967 "A Geneticist's World"

D.S. Lees, 1966 "Uses and Abuses of National Planning"

J. Burke, 1966 "Physical Metallurgy: Past, Present and Future"

H.N.V. Temperley, 1966 "Mathematics and the Real World"

F.T. Barwell, 1965 "The Unity of Engineering as Illustrated by Transport Technology"

J.H. Purnell, 1965 "The Thermal Decomposition of Paraffin Hydrocarbons; A Century of Study"

W.M. Williams, 1964 "Sociology - The Proper Study"

Cecil J.L. Price, 1963 "A Man of Genius, and a Welch Man"

O.C. Zienkiewicz, 1962 "The Next Decade of Civil Engineering"

T.J. Morgan, 1962 "Peasant Culture"

J.D. Weston, 1962 "Concepts of Infinity"

Alun Davies, 1961 "Modern History in a University"

H.M. Waidson, 1961 "The Changing Pattern of the German Novel"

J.H. Parry, 1961 "University, State and Society"

1950s

F.H.T. Rhodes, 1958 "Life, Time and Darwin"

C.H. Hassall, 1958 "Chemistry in the Service of Medicine"

C.E. Gittins, 1957 "Educational Opportunity"

R. H. Macmillan, 1957 "The Communication of Ideas"

A.R.E. Singer, 1957 "The Control of Industrial Processes"

W. Fishwick, 1956 "Controls and Communications"

E.W. Knight-Jones, 1956 "Marine Biology in Wales"

G.B. Kerferd, 1956 "The Study of Greek Thought"

B.G. Neal, 1955 "Structures and the Applied Scientist"

H.E. Street, 1955 "The Scientific Study of Plants"

J.C. Rees, 1955 "Interpreting the Constitution"

W.G.V. Balchin, 1954 "Research in Geography"

Stephen J. Williams, 1954 "Ifor Ceri Noddwr Cerdd"

J.G. Oldroyd, 1954 "Mathematics and the Physical World"

James Kinsley, 1954 "English Studies in the University"

Sir D. Emrys Evans, 1953 "Universities Past and Present"

J.R. Jones, 1953 "Religion as True Myth"

R.C. Knight, 1952 "Racine, Convention and Classicism"

L.J. Kastner, 1950 "Education, Tasks, and Outlook of the Engineer"

1930 - 1950

C.W. Shoppee, 1949 "The Carbon Atom"

Hugh O'Neill, 1948 "Metals and Mankind: From Anglesey to Hiroshima"

F. Llewellyn Jones, 1947 "The Significance of the Electron: Its Impact on Modern Society"

Evan J. Jones, 1947 "Education in Wales During the Middle Ages"

Benjamin Farrington, 1936 "Diodorus Siculus: Universal Historian"