Berwins Salon North | 9 February 2023

  • Thursday 9th February 2023 | 7.30pm
  • The Crown Hotel | Harrogate
  • Tickets: £16

    Please note that a £1.75 booking fee applies at time of booking

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In a world dominated by other people’s opinions, Salon gives you the knowledge to form your own.

Three expert speakers deliver TED-style talks designed to change your life for the better. Presenting big ideas, and answering key questions in life, Salon was voted as number six in the ‘Top 100 Things to do in the World’ by GQ magazine.

In a time of polarised debate and online shouting it is Berwins Salon North that gives you the time and space to learn from the experts and make up your own mind. This cabaret style evening is designed to change your life for the better and excite your curiosity.

We present the most stimulating ideas in arts, science and psychology. Each expert speaker has the challenge of engaging their audience within a 25-minute set, interspersed with intervals and time for a well-crafted G&T. Our Salon evenings are Harrogate’s own style of live TED talks, where you’re guaranteed to learn something new about yourself and the world around you.

Join us for our first Berwins Salon North event of 2023*!

Professor of circadian neuroscience Russell Foster explores how pushing our daily routines into the night, and carrying out work, exercise and our social lives long after dark, is not only disrupting our sleep, but leaving us more vulnerable to infection, cancer, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and mental illness.

Dion Terrelonge is an expert in fashion psychology, an advocate of sustainability and circular fashion, and seeks to share psychological insight regarding our relationships with clothing and consumerism so that consumers may better understand their behaviours and make educated and enlightened changes and choices.

Our final speaker, geneticist and science populariser Adam Rutherford, tells the story of eugenics; of attempts by the powerful throughout history to dictate reproduction and regulate the interface of breeding and society, and asks how we can prevent it from being repeated.

As ever, our trio of speakers is expertly bound together and hosted by the fabulous Helen Bagnall.

*Line-up subject to change.

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Russell Foster

Life Time: The New Science of the Body Clock, and How It Can Revolutionize Your Sleep and Health

In the twenty-first century, we increasingly push our daily routines into the night, carrying out work, exercise and our social lives long after dark. But we have forgotten that our bodies are governed by a 24-hour biological clock which guides us towards the best time to sleep, eat and think. New science has proven that living out of sync with this clock is not only disrupting our sleep, but leaving us more vulnerable to infection, cancer, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and mental illness.

In Life Time, Professor Russell Foster shares his life’s work, taking us on a fascinating and surprising journey through the science of our body clocks. Using his own studies, as well as insights from an international community of sleep scientists and biologists studying circadian rhythms, he illustrates the surprising effects the time of day can have on our health. In the modern world, we have neglected an essential part of our biology. But with knowledge of this astonishing science, we can get back into the rhythm, and live healthier, sharper lives.

Russell Grant Foster is a British professor of circadian neuroscience, the Director of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology and the Head of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi). He is also a Nicholas Kurti Senior Fellow at Brasenose College at the University of Oxford. Russell Chairs the Royal Society Public Engagement Committee, The Cheltenham Science Festival and is a Trustee of the Science Museum Group. He contributes to radio, television and writes newspaper articles. He has co-written three popular science books, and is working on his fourth.

Dion Terrelonge

Doctor of Psychology practising in the dual fields of educational psychology and fashion psychology

An advocate of sustainability and circular fashion, Dion Terrelonge seeks to share psychological insight regarding our relationships with clothing and consumerism so that consumers may better understand their behaviours and make educated and enlightened changes and choices.

Dion has worked as a chartered psychologist for over 7 seven years and worked in the field of child and adolescent mental health previously, focussing on outcomes research. While completing her professional doctorate in psychology, Dion identified a gap in the field of psychology, noting that while psychologists attended to inside worlds, little consideration or support was given in managing and negotiating external presentations and the impact these can have on our wellbeing.

She subsequently completed an advanced diploma in personal styling with the London College of Style and went on to work part time as a Stylist for one of the largest personal styling teams in London before setting up her own psychologically informed consultancy.

Dion is currently conducting research on the link between personal dressing practices and mood, which will be published in a peer reviewed journal, having previously been published in leading psychological journals.

Adam Rutherford

Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics

Throughout history, people have sought to improve society by reducing suffering, eliminating disease or enhancing desirable qualities in their children. But this wish goes hand in hand with the desire to impose control over who can marry, who can procreate and who is permitted to live. In the Victorian era, in the shadow of Darwin’s ideas about evolution, a new full-blooded attempt to impose control over our unruly biology began to grow in the clubs, salons and offices of the powerful. It was enshrined in a political movement that bastardised science, and for sixty years enjoyed bipartisan and huge popular support.

Eugenics was vigorously embraced in dozens of countries. It was also a cornerstone of Nazi ideology, and forged a path that led directly to the gates of Auschwitz. But the underlying ideas are not merely historical. The legacy of eugenics persists in our language and literature, from the words ‘moron’ and ‘imbecile’ to the themes of some of our greatest works of culture. Today, with new gene editing techniques, very real conversations are happening – including in the heart of British government – about tinkering with the DNA of our unborn children, to make them smarter, fitter, stronger.

Adam David Rutherford is a geneticist and science populariser. He was an audio-visual content editor for the journal Nature for a decade, and is a frequent contributor to the newspaper The Guardian. He hosts the BBC Radio 4 programmes Inside Science and (with Hannah Fry) The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry; has produced several science documentaries; and has published books related to genetics and the origin of life. He is an honorary senior research associate in the division of biosciences at University College London and became President of Humanists UK in June 2022 succeeding former President, Alice Roberts.

Dates for your diary for the next Berwins Salon North events:

Thursday 20 April (Book now)

Thursday 8 June (Book now)

Thursday 6 July (Booking opening soon)

Thursday 7 September (Booking opening soon)

Thursday 16 November (Booking opening soon)

‘After every Salon I leave the venue thinking and knowing the answer to everything – 5 mins later I’m back to normal!’

‘This talk was truly thought provoking, intriguing, scary and exciting all in a 30 min package!’

‘Geek chic’