Friday 18th October
Find us in the Park Suite on the fourth floor of the Mercure, Manchester, and if you can’t make it, we’ll be livestreaming the event at twitch.tv/sitp from 11am UK time.
11:00 am
Start
Opening remarks from the organisers
11:05 am
Session 1
Learn of the benefits of drinking your own urine! Marvel at how it treats conjunctivitis if you pour it in your eyes! Discover if you really should be peeing on your jellyfish sting!
This talk considers whether there is any scientific evidence for the benefits of urine therapy (spoiler: there isn’t), what might lead people to believe in it, and contains horrible pictures of the results caused by indulging in this practice.
Heidi owns many cats, all of which prefer to use the high class facilities of the indoor litter trays rather than the slum of the garden flower beds, and therefore she thinks about the best way to dispose of urine quite a lot. None of these ways has yet involved drinking it, strangely enough.
She likes science fiction conventions, singing, and is currently trying to learn more than four chords on the ukulele.
A gramme of human excrement contains one trillion bacteria, so how can we selectively culture a poop sample to hunt for our most wanted faecal felons? Enter our intrepid Biomedical Scientist Laura Eggo to conduct a defecation investigation. This talk will take you through the process of finding the scatological equivalent of a needle in a haystack.
Laura Eggo has seventeen years of microbiology experience, starting as medical lab assistant, and working her way up to become a Specialist Biomedical Scientist at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. She is a QED stalwart, appearing in one of the panels last year to highlight medical misinformation following her cancer diagnosis.
No people ever called themselves “the Vikings” and the history of Scandinavian culture didn’t start with the raid of Lindisfarne. There were kings, well-established communities, and even countries in the geographical area that we now call Denmark, Sweden and Norway, thousands of years before “the age of the Vikings”. Recent archeological finds and historical research paint a very different picture of the lost history of Northern Europe compared to what most of us learn at school.
Pontus Böckman co-hosts the European Skeptics Podcast (the ESP, former president of the Swedish Skeptics (VoF) and the current president of ECSO, the European Council of Skeptical Organisations.
The rise in the number of stray dogs has sparked fierce reactions from conspiracy influencers. Between violent interventions like shooting strays and deporting volunteers who feed these “scary monsters,” some escalated the issue to the point of declaring it a national security threat. But why has such an everyday issue been dragged to its most radical form?
This talk explores how conspiracy networks use everyday issues and radical narratives to advertise themselves.
Serdar Basegmez is a former Istanbulite and a new Londoner skeptic. Since 2010, Serdar has been actively involved with Yalansavar, a Turkish grassroots skeptical movement that promotes scientific reasoning and critical thinking, serving as a blogger, podcaster, meet-up host, and speaker. He is also part of the organizing committee for Greenwich Skeptics in the Pub and occasionally writes for The Skeptic UK. In his free time, Serdar runs his own company, developing business applications.
12:10 pm
Session 2
In a world where humans can literally fly, somehow the word “technology” has come to mean violating labour laws to undercut taxi firms and dressing it up as “innovation” by bolting on a phone app. The tech industry is revered by the media as inspirational, miraculous and futuristic, it has almost unlimited money, and many extremely clever engineers work in it — so why does nothing work properly? Let’s discuss some of the very silly ideas pushed from above by bosses, and from below by developers.
Andrew has been touching computers for long enough that you’d think he’d know better, been a professional developer since 2012, and is now the tech lead at a small web company. He is also a longtime member and organiser of Manchester Skeptics.
According to many, your handwriting, the way you draw your letters, says a lot about your personality. But what does science have to say about it? And what could it be useful for anyway?
A biology teacher and jazz singer by training, currently working as a tour director and guide, András has been a skeptical activist in Hungary for 25 years. He’s an original member and current president of the Hungarian Skeptic Society, a member of Susan Gerbic’s Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia team, board member of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations, intiator and co-host of the European Skeptics Podcast as well as the host and editor of the Hungarian “Hogy is van ez?” podcast.
Electrification is transforming transportation at a fast pace. With over 40 million electric cars on the roads as of 2023, and a growing number of electric trucks and buses, the shift towards greener travel is clear. Electric trains have been around for almost two centuries, yet, as of 2024, there’s only one serial production electric aircraft, and it can only carry two people. How close are we to the dream of zero-emission flights to Skepticamp and QED?
Daniel is a PhD student at Uppsala University in Sweden, researching electric aircraft and the electrification of airports. He holds an M.Sc. in Electric Vehicle Engineering and has previously worked on the development of electric trucks, cars, and scooters. Daniel also holds a commercial pilot’s licence and is a flight instructor. Naturally, he is also a member of the Swedish skeptics’ association.
In 1978, German pop group Boney M released their single Rasputin. The lyrics cemented the reputation of one Grigory Rasputin, one of the most loathed men in Russia, for all time.
One half of the Retrospecticus podcast, Tom is a PhD-trained scientist with a passion for modern history. Also known as skepticism’’s resident vexillologist (flag nerd), you’ll find him hanging out with The Merseyside Skeptics Society, blasting out some terrible karaoke or streaming on Twitch.
1:10 pm
Lunch
Time to grab a quick bite.
1:55 pm
Session 3
Nearly 1 in 4 Britons has some form of disability and, at least in theory, has access to a system that is designed to get them the accommodations that they need. However, we know that many people underutilize or even fully reject these accommodations, often causing themselves undue pain, suffering, and frustration. This talk will take a look at the research behind why this rejection happens and what we can do about it, ending with a call to action for good skeptics everywhere.
Cass is the queer, trans, disabled immigrant that the Daily Mail warned you about. He’s a sociologist by training, and he taught undergraduates for years before health issues cut his PhD program short. These days he still gives occasional talks on subjects that take his fancy, particularly those related to disability, queerness, and identity. In between migraines he likes to make extremely sparkly art and take care of his many animals, all of whom are cuter than yours.
In spite of advancements in the field of forensic science, questionable practices and outright unproven methods still often get admitted into American court rooms. We’ll explore some examples of this happening, some intractable problems in some methods that may seem reliable, and the reasons why there’s even a chance of nonsense being admitted into court.
Ben O’Brien (BSc, MSc) has a masters in Forensic Science from Virginia Commonwealth University and currently works as a forensic DNA analyst for a private company based out of northern Virginia, primarily analyzing sexual assault kits to aid Illinois State Police in preventing backlogs by ensuring all cases have evidence processed within 6 months.
A talk about my experience literally losing the plot with postnatal Psychosis and what it’s like to experience psychiatric care on the NHS
Karin is a artist/skeptic based in Liverpool.
Proponents of AI promise that AI will lead to the the democratisation of knowledge, but it is ultimately owned by various companies and investors. Who are these people and what are their goals for AI?
Phil is a professional software engineer and an amateur board member of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and The Skeptic magazine
3:00 pm
Session 4
Last year prison lawyer Emma ran a long way to make an over-laboured point about prison conditions. The sequel calls for an even more ridiculous stunt… So Emma will be running in circles at a prison for 52 miles.
Our prisons are full to bursting. The situation is so bad that by soon thousands will be released before they have served even half of their sentence. In this talk Emma will clear up exactly how we got here, how it has been brewing for a long time and the facts about ‘early’ release.
Emma is a former QED main stage speaker and solicitor specialising in prison and public law. She regularly represents prisoners before the Parole Board. In what is left of her spare time, Emma enjoys running and boring other people about how much she enjoys running.
From where do the stories about sea serpents, draugr, and trolls originate? In the case of one of Europe’s oldest lake monster, the story seems to originate from misinterpreting a historical artifact. So what happens when the church, king, and bureaucracy get involved in a monster hunt, and does the monster really exist?
Fredrik is an archaeologist who investigates Ancient Aliens, alternative history, and even monsters. He hosts a podcast on the Archaeological Podcast Network called “Digging up Ancient Aliens.” Fredrik’s specialty is the Scandinavian Viking Age, and their specialty is the view of childhood. However, due to unforeseen events, he is now telling people online that Pakistan was not nuked by aliens. Or that dragons are not real.
1 in 8 people globally are affected by a mental disorder, yet despite research, knowledge and awareness efforts, mental health is still increasing at an alarming rate. Could there be something misleading us in the data, an underlying reason why so many are identifying as mentally ill these days that is being overlooked? I will explain the concept of the “psychiatrization of society” as a possible explanation, in particular exploring social media’s role in the increasing pathologization of normality.
Shayna is a PhD student at the University of Birmingham studying the gendered nature of modern mental health discourse & the psychiatrization of society. Her goal is to uncover and expose pseudoscience and sexism within psychiatry.
The dubious rants of an aging teacher, regarding discipline and punishment in schools and why we’ve never had it so bad, or good, depending on who you listen to.
Caradoc is returning to Skepticamp for another year, hoping to prove that quantity is not necessarily quality. This year, fresh from joining a new school in September, he is embarking on his 24th year destroying the hopes and dreams of children in education. A keen lover of sport, vegetables and politics, he is extremely glad his brother lasted longer as Welsh First Minister than Liz “Lettuce” Truss. Will His daughters get a mention in this year’s talk? Who knows! His favourite Gladiator is Fury
4:00 pm
End
Closing Remarks