Cambridge Series at the Hay Festival 2013

Thousands of people attended the Cambridge series of talks at this year's Hay Festival which featured subjects ranging from domestic service, women's equality and US politics to nanotechnology and smart drugs.

This year was the fifth year that the University has run the series at the prestigious literary festival as part of its public engagement work. This year, for the first time, there were talks aimed at school-aged children. Alumni including Chris Blackhurst, editor of The Independent, and Gaby Hinsliff, author of Half a Wife, also took part in discussion with Cambridge researchers and the Cambridge Alumni Relations Office held an event at the Festival which was addressed by Peter Florence, the Festival's director and a Cambridge alumnus.

Lord Rees's talk on a post-human future drew an audience of around 1,000 people. Professor Simon Blackburn's talk with Chris Blackhurst on the nature of declining trust in our institutions drew around 750 people and several talks and sessions had to be moved to bigger venues because of their popularity with festival-goers.

Alex Jeffrey, who spoke on justice and recovery in Bosnia with Guardian journalist Ed Vulliamy, said: "It was superb! It was a welcome change from more scholarly styles of discussion and forced me to think differently about my work."

The full line-up included: Charlie Gilderdale from the Millennium Maths Project, Professor Sir Mark Welland on the future of nanotechnology; and Professor Barbara Sahakian on her new book 'Bad moves: when decision-making goes wrong'. Professor Jonathan Haslam discussed his forthcoming book on the history of the Russian secret service and Professor Sadaf Farooqi spoke on the science of obesity. Professor James Jackson addressed why vulnerability to earthquakes is so variable; Dame Fiona Reynolds, Master of Emmanuel College, discussed the role landscape, history and nature play in our sense of Britishness; historian Lucy Delap spoke about the myths of domestic services as portrayed in programmes like Downton Abbey and its modern forms; Abigail Brundin talked about the writing of 17th-century girls who were forced into a life of seclusion in convents; Tim Minshall, senior lecturer in technology management, described why engineering is exciting, important and fun; and Professor Tony Badger, Master of Clare College, debated whether President Obama has learnt the right lessons from FDR's New Deal, with the BBC's economics editor, Stephanie Flanders. Professor Jackie Scott's event in conversation with Gaby Hinsliff addressed the challenges for gender equality posed by the unequal division of domestic labour and prompted many audience questions and accounts of experiences.

Other University of Cambridge speakers at the Festival were Rachel Polonsky, Professor Jaideep Prabhu from Judge Business School, Dr Brendan Simms, Dr Robert Macfarlane, Rowan Williams, master of Magdalene College, and the astronomer Simon Mitton.

Nicola Buckley, Head of Public Engagement, said: "The audience reaction to the Cambridge series at this year's Hay Festival was fantastic, and the question and answer sessions were thought-provoking for speakers and audiences alike. We met a number of people at Hay who had chosen to go to several of the talks in the Cambridge series because they enjoyed them so much. We are grateful to Peter Florence and the team at Hay and all the speakers for taking part."