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The Lady Ademola Lecture 2021-2022

St Hugh’s was honoured to host Sir Geoff Palmer OBE for the 2021-2022 annual Lady Ademola lecture on Thursday 9 June 2022. The lecture was held virtually, with a large online audience, and was titled “The Education I Nearly Missed”.

Sir Geoff gave an inspiring account of how he nearly missed the education that changed his life, which led to his contributions both as an eminent grain scientist and as a human rights activist. In his lecture, Sir Geoff reflected on his arrival from Jamaica in London in 1955 as a boy and his journey to becoming a leading scientist of grains and cereals, inventing the barley abrasion process. He argued that race is an invention and that a diverse society needs diverse management to be fair and efficient.

Sir Geoff has received various awards including honorary degrees, professorships, and a knighthood; he became the first honorary consul for Jamaica in Scotland and has recently been elected Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University.  Sir Geoff is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland and a human rights activist, as well as being involved in a considerable amount of charity work in the community.

To watch the lecture in full please press ‘play’ below: