Newcastle Skeptics


NEWS: our first ever Summer session – apply now!

Our event on Saturday 20th June will be our first ever Summer Sessions: anyone and everyone is welcome to propose a 10-minute talk on anything you think people should know more about!

Debunking myths is fun but not mandatory, and it can be silly or serious, just as long as it’s something that you’re passionate about! Fill in our application form below or email David, Remy & Andrew at: sitp.ncl@gmail.com with a suggested title and brief description of your talk!


April social

Join us from 7.30 pm on Wednesday 1st of April in the Library at the Town Wall on Pink Lane, near Newcastle Central Station, to meet fellow skeptics and to shape the future of skepticism in the North East.

Come for drinks, casual debunkings and maybe even some skeptical gaming!


April event: Robin Ince – A Monkey Escaped

What happens when a monkey escapes the Infinite Cage? Robin Ince – multiple award-winning presenter, poet, and a stand-up human – will delight us for an afternoon of stories, interesting science anecdotes, introspection, and general monkey business.

Robin Ince is a comedian, actor and writer. He was a presenter of the BBC Radio 4 show The Infinite Monkey Cage with from 2009 to 2025.


Past events archive

10 Oct 2024Nikolas Lloyd – How your body lies to you about pain
14 Nov 2024Michael Marshall – Using data to counter quackery and alternative medicine
12 Dec 2024Professor Anqi Shen – When blessings turn to curses: scammers’ exploitation of supernatural beliefs
09 Jan 2025Dr Rebecca Woods – What’s a question to start with?: Why interrogatives are so weird (in English)
13 Feb 2025Dr Tom Nicholson – “We’re all just a little bit ADHD, right?!” – How the world makes life harder for neurodivergent adults
13 Mar 2025Dr Alex Niven – How to Get a Rise out of the North-East: A History of the Future in the Deep North
10 Apr 2025Brian Eggo – The Truth is Nowt There
15 May 2025Professor Richard Wiseman – How to Transform a Tea Towel into a Chicken and Other Mysteries
12 Jun 2025Dr Joel Wallenberg – Stealing money from old people slowly, or How We Came to Charge for the Future
10 Jul 2025Shayna Weisz – What’s wrong with me? How mental health awareness might actually be making us feel worse
14 Aug 2025Maeve Hanan – When healthy eating turns harmful: How ultra-processed food panic fuels anxiety and disordered eating
11 Sep 2025Professor Jamie Tehrani – The Natural History of Narratives: how stories evolve, spread and survive, and how they decay and die
09 Oct 2025Dr. Darrel Ray – Sexy Evolution: What the Pope Doesn’t Know About Human Sexuality
13 Nov 2025Dr Jane Stewart – XX/XY: not always what you think
4 Dec 2025Dr George Locke – Apostasy in the UK: on leaving a high-control religion
14 Feb 2026Heidi Mounsey – The Woo of Wee
14 March 2026Professor Bruce Baker – Recognized More and More: Frederick Douglass and Newcastle’s role in ending slavery in the United States