We’ve come a long way, baby – we’re celebrating FIVE fascinating years of Seed Talks, with FIVE mini talks from our fav speakers!

From gothic literature to the multiverse, anime to ADHD, and psychedelics to psychopaths, we’ve spent the past half-decade exploring brilliant topics at venues across the UK & Ireland.

Now, after more than 1,800 intriguing lectures for over 150,000 curious people, we’re hosting a special event at 21Soho, London to celebrate our journey so far – hosted by our founder William McLean, and featuring five of our favourite speakers giving quickfire talks on what’s fascinating them right now.

Psychedelic Researcher and Professor of Exceptional Human Experience Dr David Luke

Trauma Specialist and Expert in Psychological Recovery Dr Deba Choudhury

ADHD and Autism Specialist and Advocate for the Neurodivergent Brain Professor James Brown

Writer, Scholar and Anime Expert Helen McCarthy

Professor of English at the University of Oxford Diane Purkiss

For this special event only, all our tickets are pay-what-you-like, but see what you can spare – we’ll be donating 100% of our proceeds to two wonderful charities!

SEDSConnective is a global charity supporting people with symptomatic hypermobility and neurodivergence

PsyCare UK Welfare & Harm Reduction is a charity that provides welfare and harm reduction services at music festivals and events throughout the UK

Expect five short surprise talks, followed by a Q&A with all our speakers

Our Speakers:

Dr David Luke is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Greenwich. His research focuses on transpersonal experiences, anomalous phenomena and altered states of consciousness, especially via psychedelics, having published more than 100 academic papers in this area, including ten books, most recently Otherworlds: Psychedelics and Exceptional Human Experience. When he is not running clinical drug trials with LSD, conducting DMT field experiments or observing apparent weather control with Mexican shamans he directs the Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness salon and is a cofounder and director of Breaking Convention: International Conference on Psychedelic Consciousness.

Dr Deba Choudhury is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years of clinical experience. She is the founder of DCP Therapy, an independent psychological therapy practice established for almost 10 years based in the City of London and Surrey. Dr Deba takes a tailor-made holistic approach to all cases and uses a range of clinical models including Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, Experiential Dynamic Therapies and Schema Therapy.

Professor James Brown is an academic researcher and science communicator. James was diagnosed with ADHD in 2021. Subsequently, James co-founded and is Chair for the registered UK charity ADHDadultUK, set up the evidence-based online ADHD magazine focusmag.uk and is a co-founder and co-host of The ADHD Adults Podcast. James is also an ADHD Coach and Mentor and provides training, guidance and assistance to organisations around adult ADHD for his company JBHD Ltd.

Helen McCarthy is a writer, presenter and independent scholar who was introduced to anime in 1981 and has been studying it ever since. She has spoken at universities, cultural institutions and of course anime conventions across America, Asia and Europe, from the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution to Akita International University and the Japan Foundation in London and Kuala Lumpur. Her works include The Anime Encyclopedia, widely recognised as a seminal text for the study of anime; Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation; The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga; and Leiji Matsumoto: Essays on the Manga and Anime Legend.

Diane Purkiss is Professor of English at the University of Oxford, and a fellow of Keble College. She has published on witchcraft, fairies, and also on the English Civil War, the occasion of England's biggest witchhunt. She has been in more than a dozen television documentaries; she even has an IMdb entry and a Wikipedia page… She has spoken to general audiences at numerous literary festivals and to many local history societies.

Description supplied by the event organiser.