The University of Chicago’s Harper Lectures return virtually Oct. 13 with a diverse lineup of leading faculty, who will each discuss research and some of the most pressing problems facing society today.
With five events over the next month, the Harper Lectures will touch on a wide range of critical topics, ranging from development economics, to policing and human rights, to the mysteries of our universe. The events are free, and registration is available at the UChicago Alumni & Friends website.
The schedule begins this week with Michael Kremer, a Nobel laureate and the University Professor of Economics, who will discuss global poverty and the results of new research. A pioneer in the use of randomized control trials in economics, Kremer has examined poverty interventions like scientists do medical treatments—putting interventions through a trial to isolate effects.
Hosted by UChicago Alumni, the Harper Lectures will then continue with legal scholar Claudia Flores, physicist Marcela Carena and chemist Chuan He.
The fall schedule of speakers will conclude Nov. 15 with a panel on threats facing democracy, both in the United States and around the world. The panel will include political scientists Cathy Cohen, William Howell and Monika Nalepa; sociologist Marco Garrido; legal scholar Tom Ginsburg; and anthropologist Kaushik Sunder Rajan.
- Wednesday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m. CT — Alleviating Global Poverty: Development Innovation and the Experimental Method, with Prof. Michael Kremer
- Wednesday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m. CT — The Failure of the World’s Richest Countries to Restrain Law Enforcement, with Clinical Prof. Claudia Flores
- Tuesday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m. CT — The Unseen Universe: How It Impacts the World We See, with Prof. Marcela Carena
- Wednesday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m. CT — A Genetic Game Changer: RNA Methylation in Medicine, Agriculture, and Conservation, with Prof. Chuan He
- Monday, Nov. 15, 6:30 p.m. CT — Democracy in Peril: A Conversation with UChicago Social Sciences Faculty
To learn more from the Harper Lecturers, listen to their appearances on the Big Brains podcast:
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
