Green Templeton College London Alumni Chapter launched with Royal Society event

To mark the launch of the Green Templeton College London Alumni Chapter, Green Templeton College welcomed alumni and guests to an event at The Royal Society, London this week. Our speaker for the evening was Professor Charles Foster, a Fellow of Green Templeton College and Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Oxford, who spoke about his acclaimed book Being a Beast, a New York Times bestseller and IgNobel Prize winner.

After a welcome from the Principal Denise Lievesley, Professor Foster delved into his attempts to live as a badger in the Welsh Black Mountains, an urban fox in London’s East End, an otter in the rivers of Exmoor, a red deer in the Scottish Highlands and in the West Country, and a swift in the skies between Oxford and central Africa. Professor Foster explored questions of empathy, animal emotion and the spectrum of sensory experiences through these attempts to live as non-human animals, with some candid anecdotes along the way, such as the flavour palate of earthworms.

After questions from the audience, Professor Foster’s talk was then followed by the official launch of the fifth alumni Chapter of Green Templeton College’s international alumni engagement programme with a short speech by alumna Caroline Greenhalgh, Executive Director of Philanthropy Insights Ltd, Doctoral Researcher at Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham and Board Member of The Fund for Global Human Rights.

A drinks and canapés reception then followed, with much discussion of the illuminating, thought-provoking and entertaining talk from Professor Foster. Thank you to everyone who joined us for the evening! For more on the Green Templeton College London Alumni Chapter, check out the website or join the Facebook group.

We very much look forward to welcoming alumni to further events in London after such a great evening! You can keep updated on all upcoming alumni events around the world here.