Wednesday 6 March, 2024
Flett Lecture Theatre, Natural History Museum, London

The Verrall Lecture is an annual public event organised by the Royal Entomological Society, open to all and free to attend.

The lecture takes place on the first Wednesday in March to coincide with the Annual Meeting of the Verrall Association of Entomologists, the Verrall Supper, which begun in 1887 by G.H. Verrall and is now organised by the Entomological Club.

In 2021, RES joined with the Amateur Entomologists’ Society to organise the first Young Verrall lecture, with the same lecturer speaking to a younger audience. This takes place on Saturday 2 March at Staffordshire University as part of he Staffordshire Invertebrate Science Fair.

Verrall Lecture 2024

We are delighted to welcome Professor Rebecca Kilner to give the 2024 Verrall Lecture.

Professor Rebecca Kilner is an evolutionary biologist from the  University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Pembroke College and Head of University’s Department of Zoology.

Rebecca’s research investigates how social behaviour evolves, and how it then changes the course of evolution. Although she began her research career by studying birds, she saw the light about 15 years ago when she realised she could ask much more interesting evolutionary questions if she focused her work on insects. Her current research combines experimental evolution on laboratory populations of burying beetles with field experiments and population genomics.

Rebecca became 1866 Professor of Zoology at Cambridge University in 2023, was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2021 and in 2010 received the Scientific Medal from the Zoological Society of London. You can listen to her talking about her work on the BBC Radio 4’s Life Scientific.

Further details of Rebecca’s talk will be announced soon.

Professor Rebecca Kilner will also be giving the 2024 Young Verrall Lecture aimed at 11 – 14 year olds, taking place

Registration

To attend in person, we encourage you to register for free at the bottom of the page to avoid queues at the venue. There is also the opportunity to turn up on the day.

The lecture will start at 16:30. Please note, refreshments will not be supplied, but there are multiple cafes within the Natural History Museum to enjoy a drink before the talk. There will be an RES stand and rare books on display, so do arrive early to meet key members of the RES team.

If you are unable to attend in person, the talk will be recorded and shared after the event.

Location

The Verrall Lecture takes place in the Flett Lecture Theatre of the Natural History Museum (NHM).

Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
South Kensington
London
SW7 5BD

The nearest Tube station is South Kensington, a five-minute walk from the Museum’s main entrance on Cromwell Road. Piccadilly, District and Circle line trains stop at South Kensington. This station is not step-free.

There are two entrances to the NHM. Cromwell Road main entrance is open and is accessible via the gates at the front of the Museum. It has step-free access with a ramp. Exhibition Road entrance is open but not step free. There is a lift from the entrance lobby to the galleries.