'˜Two pints of lager and a PhD talk please' at Sheffield pub

Pubgoers who like a bag of crisps or pork scratchings with their pint can now enjoy something else with their drink - lectures by some of the city's aspiring academics.
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A new scheme called PubhD has been launched in which three researchers from any subject area explain their work to an audience over an evening in the pub in exchange for a drink or two.

Project leaders say the idea is that the talks are delivered at ‘pub level’ to make complex subjects easy to understand.

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It is being launched in the city by Devon Smith and Emily Fisk, who are both PhD students at The University of Sheffield.

In a joint statement, they said: “The idea is that you don’t have to be an academic to understand the talks. For the speakers, PubhD is a great way to test your public speaking and public engagement skills. For the audience it is a great opportunity to learn something new, without needing any prior knowledge of the topic. And it’s a good excuse to get out of the house.”

PubhD was originally founded by two researchers in Nottingham in January 2014 and there are now 20 branches across Europe.

The first event in Sheffield is being held at Harrison’s 1854 Bar on Regent Terrance on Wednesday, November 2, from 7pm. The speakers are Isobel Williams, who will give a talk entitled ‘Giving meaning to feelings in functional neurological symptoms’, Billy Bryan with his presentation ‘Making medics mindful with feedback’ and Emily Fisk with ‘Starve a fever, feed a cold’, which will explore how the metabolism can help to fight antimicrobial resistance.

The event will take place on the first Wednesday of every month, with new speakers from different subject areas at each event. For more information visit pubhdsheffield.strikingly.com