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The University’s Convocation Executive Committee is proud to hold the 2025 Annual Convocation Lecture.
"The Dark Drop - the Gravity of Children's Literature"
Shirley-Anne McMillan, the Children’s Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland at the Seamus Heaney Centre, is coming to Ulster University to deliver a talk entitled ‘The Dark Drop - the Gravity of Children's Literature.’
About Shirley
Before becoming a full-time writer, Shirley-Anne worked as a teacher in Integrated Schools and later supported students through literacy programs and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, including becoming the founder of Northern Ireland’s first Gay-Straight Alliance in education.
Her debut novel, A Good Hiding, was published in 2016 after winning the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Undiscovered Voices competition with a pre-publication extract. She has since published several more successful and acclaimed young adult novels.
Register for the Annual Lecture below
Event details:
- Tuesday 30 September 2025
- Ulster University Belfast Campus - Room BA-00-021 (The Birley Building)
- Arrival and Registration followed by Light Refreshments – 5.30pm
- Formal Proceedings – 6.30pm
Previous lecture topics
2024 - A.I
The 2024 Annual Lecture at the Derry~Londonderry campus, in association with 'Ulster Talks', honoured the memory of the late Professor Paul McKevitt, a dedicated member of the Convocation Executive Committee.
The evening celebrated the substantial contribution Paul made to Computer Science, with particular emphasis on Artificial Intelligence. Speakers included Professor Eunice Ma (Serious Games & Extended Reality for Mental Health and Wellbeing) and Professor Michael McTear (Conversational AI).
2023 - Dr David Glass - "From the Big Bang to Artificial Intelligence: Do Science and God Compete?
Dr David Glass is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing and Mathematics. As well as undertaking research in the areas of computational and mathematical modelling and philosophy of science, in a recent project he has used probability theory to help determine whether science can ‘explain away’ God. He has given many academic and popular lectures on the relationship between science and religion and is the author of Atheism’s New Clothes, which is a response to the writings of the New Atheists.
This lecture explored whether science and God are in competition or whether science might actually provide support for belief in God. The final part of the lecture briefly considered whether developments in artificial intelligence could undermine a religious view of human beings.
