Metcalf Institute is celebrating over 25 years of bringing science to the conversation! Join us for an uplifting dose of inspiration and education as part of our Annual Public Lecture Series. Three times each year we bring you a free presentation or discussion with an inspired thought leader, grappling with real-world climate change and environmental issues. Together, we’ll explore the latest research and collaborative efforts to respond to our changing environment.
All lectures are free. Limited in-person seating will be available for the June 10 Leeson Lecture at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography. All of our lectures are accessible for deaf and hard of hearing via live ASL interpreters. Learn more below!
2025 Public Lecture Schedule
The Language of Climate Politics: A conversation with climate activist and author Genevieve Guenther
Thursday, April 24, 2025, 5 p.m.
Higgins Welcome Center, URI
Join the Metcalf Institute, URI’s Department of English, and the Harrington School of Communication and Media for an evening with Dr. Genevieve Guenther, climate activist and author of “The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil-Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It.” Moderated by Daniel Wolfe, climate reporter for the Washington Post and a 2024 alum of Metcalf’s Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists, Guenther will discuss her investigation into the propaganda that justifies the fossil-fuel economy and offer listeners new ways to talk about the climate crisis in an effort to create transformative change.
Learn more and register here
2025 Leeson Lecture with Dr. Julian Agyeman
Tuesday, June 10, 2025, 3:30 p.m.
Corless Auditorium, URI Bay Campus
Dr. Julian Agyeman, author and professor of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University, will deliver this year’s Leeson Lecture. Agyeman, a critical urban planning and environmental social science scholar, focuses his research on environmental and food justice as well as the nexus of food and immigration. With more than 175 publications, he is the author, co-author or co-editor of 13 books and is in the top 10 most highly cited urban planning academics in the USA and Canada.
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