Faculty of Arts Public Lecture Series 2026
The Faculty of Arts held a series of public lectures in February and March 2026 - showcasing some of the excellent academics who form part of the Faculty and the various subjects which fascinate them.
The Faculty of Arts held a series of free talks for the wider public to showcase the academic excellence and varied research interests of the Faculty;
19 February
Change the Order, and Everything Changes: Mathematics as the Art of Rearrangement - Dr Cian O'Brien
26 February
Why did Irish Freemason's sing 'God Save the King’? - Dr Michael Murphy
12 March
From Asteroids to Ice Ages: Earth’s Place in Space - Dr Angela Cloke-Hayes
Change the Order, and Everything Changes: Mathematics as the Art of Rearrangement
What connects winning the lotto, symmetries of shapes, preventing your bank details from being stolen, solving a Rubik's cube, shuffling a deck of cards, and playing Sudoku? This talk explored what is common to these topics and countless others throughout mathematics, from subjects studied at school like counting and shapes, to research areas like encryption and mathematical symmetries. No mathematical background knowledge is assumed.
Why did Irish Freemasons sing God Save the King? - Dr Michael Murphy
This illustrated talk examined the circumstances in which Irish freemasons sang the British national anthem from the eighteenth century onwards. Loyalty to the Hanoverian succession was embedded in eighteenth-century British freemasonry as shown in The Constitutions of the Freemasons (1723). After 1745, freemasons adopted the melody of ‘God Save the King’ into their musical culture, incorporating it into lodge ceremonies alongside dance tunes, patriotic songs and originally composed melodies.
From the 1750s onward, Irish freemasons played a key role in disseminating this song repertoire within Ireland, Britain, and America. The constitutions by Edward Spratt and Laurence Dermott included or referenced the British anthem, while later Irish Masonic songbooks from the 1790s onward contained various musical settings of the tune.
The British anthem remained part of Irish Masonic practice from the mid-eighteenth century until 1935 when the Grand Lodge of Ireland discouraged its use.
From Asteroids to Ice Ages: Earth’s Place in Space - Dr Angela Cloke-Hayes
This lecture explored how events beyond our planet have shaped Earth’s long and dramatic history. The lecture examined asteroid impacts, variations in Earth’s orbit, and changes in solar activity, and how these cosmic influences have driven ice ages, climate change, mass extinctions, and evolutionary turning points. Drawing on geological evidence and the fossil record, it revealed how Earth’s environment have been repeatedly transformed by its place in space.
