What we’re about
INTRODUCTION BY THE GROUP CO-ORGANISER, BOB
Café Science – Basingstoke is an independent, not‑for‑profit forum for curious minds. We bring together scientists, technologists, and interested members of the public to discuss the latest developments in science, technology, and climate change — in a relaxed, inclusive environment.
We welcome anyone with an interest in exploring big ideas — whether you're deeply knowledgeable or just curious. We hope you enjoy the talks and livestream events we publicise, and help us grow this community of science conversation.
ABOUT LOCAL IN-PERSON TALKS
We encourage our subscribers to attend in-person talks hosted by local science discussion groups that are within easy reach of Basingstoke. The groups we mostly publicise include Science in Reading, Henley Science Cafe, Romsey Science Cafe, Salisbury Science Cafe and Winchester Skeptics in the Pub.
The in-person events include a speaker plus a break with a follow-on Q&A discussion of the presentation topic. The speakers will often be researchers and experts in their field invited from local companies and academic centres and are specialists in the subjects under discussion.
IN-PERSON ADMISSION / DONATION FEES
You should be aware that groups running in-person talks will often request an admission fee or donation of up to £5 towards speakers and group expenses.
ONLINE LIVESTREAM TALKS
For those unable to attend the in-person talks, we also provide details of lectures and discussions delivered as on-line livestream talks that you can watch with your family, friends and neighbours. Why not make the most of this great social opportunity by inviting others to join you in a cafe or at home and then have your own discussion afterwards about the topic you watched. The livestream talks and discussions include those from The Royal Institution, The Royal Society, Gresham College and occasional University public lectures.
BOOKING LIVESTREAM EVENTS
Access and booking arrangements for online live stream talks are always handled by the talk organisers outside of this meetup site. Please ensure you take the time to read the booking instructions carefully.
GROUP ORGANISERS
Meetup requires an official group administrator, so Andrew C manages the Meetup account and related logistics. Bob Clifford continues to head up the event planning, coordination, and group leadership. Bob now works from Norwich and oversees the event calendar remotely, so while he may not attend many local meetups in person, he remains the primary contact via Meetup for all group queries and planning matters.
NOTIFICATIONS
Join this meetup group to receive email notifications via Meetup of any in-person and live stream science and technology talks, debates and lectures that we hear about.
Upcoming events
4
Science in Reading: "Unearthing the Future – Modelling of Failures"
Zerodegrees Microbrewery & Restaurant Reading, 9 Bridge Street, Reading, GBBasingstoke Science Cafe members are invited to the Science in Reading event "Unearthing the Future – Modelling of Failures" delivered by Chris Riches at Zero Degrees in Reading.
Science in Reading monthly meetups are held upstairs at Zero Degrees (9 Bridge St, Reading RG1 2LR) from 7pm with the talk starting at 7.30pm.
More information about this event and the organisers can be found at the following web address.
https://www.meetup.com/science-in-reading/events/311625640Please do come along, grab a beer/food at the downstairs bar (the mango beer and wood fired pizza are epic) and enjoy a relaxed evening of talks + networking + beers.
- 7:00pm Arrivals
- 7:30pm Welcome and Introductions
- 7:35pm Unearthing the Future – Modelling of Failures (Chris Riches)
- 8:20pm Comfort Break
- 8:30pm Q&A
- 9:00pm Networking
- 9:30pm End
More Information
Unearthing the Future – Modelling of Failures (Chris Riches)
This talk is a journey through a challenging piece of work Chris had to undertake during his 39 year career within the energy industry. He will uncover why the failure rate of underground tanks at fuel retail stations in Italy was increasing. Failure modelling helped solve a $500M problem, saving customer disruption and environmental risk, yet Chris never even saw one of the tanks.
Time: 7pm until late (talk starts at 7.30pm)
Venue: Downstairs @ Zero Degrees (Reading)If you would like to get involved and support your local Science community please get in touch – email: scienceinreading [at] gmail.com or twitter: Science in Reading (@Science_Reading)
Speaking slot availability can be found via the website.
We meet 1st Tuesday of the month. Format is gathering from 7.00pm with talks commencing at 7.30pm. Talks timings are completely flexible but generally 40-60mins + Q&A with a ~20mins break to encourage social networking.
SPEAKER
Chris Riches – Reliability Specialist. Otherwise known as a reverse archaeologist – digging up data to go forwards rather than backwards in time.Contact’s: email: scienceinreading [at] gmail.com or twitter: Science in Reading (@Science_Reading)
Look forward to seeing you there!
3 attendees
Royal Institution "A New Quantum World: “spooky” physics to tech revolution"
The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London, GBThis livestream from the Royal Institution of Great Britain invites you to join Jim Al-Khalili who explores emerging technologies powering the future of quantum, and looks at how we got here.
ADVANCE BOOKING AND PAYMENT IS REQUIRED FOR THIS TALK.
More details and booking instructions on the RI web site:https://www.rigb.org/whats-on/discourse-new-quantum-world-spooky-physics-tech-revolution
SUMMARY
Physicist and renowned broadcaster Jim Al-Khalili takes a look back at a century of quantum mechanics, the strangest yet most successful theory in all of science, and how it has shaped our world. He will also look forward to the exciting new world of Quantum 2.0 and how a deeper understanding of such counterintuitive concepts as quantum superposition and quantum entanglement is leading to the development of entirely new technologies, from quantum computers and quantum sensors to quantum cryptography and the quantum internet.The United Nations has proclaimed 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, to celebrate the centenary of quantum mechanics and the revolutionary work of the likes of Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger. Together with the Institute of Physics, join us to celebrate the culmination of the International Year of Quantum at the penultimate Discourse of our Discover200 year.
This Discourse is in partnership with the Institute of Physics.
TIMING
The livestream will open at 7.20pm and the Discourse will start promptly at 7.30pm.If you register but miss the livestream, the video will normally be available to you via the same link for two weeks after the event date.
For more information on livestreams, see the information below, or visit our FAQs page. Please use the event link you have been provided with.
By booking to attend events at the Royal Institution, you confirm that you have read and accept the Ri's event terms and conditions. You also agree to abide by our code of conduct, and help to create a great experience for yourself and your fellow participants.
2 attendees
Royal Society - Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence
The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG, London, GBMeet world-leading researchers from universities and science institutions across the UK at the Royal Society’s public events of cutting-edge science. Tonight's lecture is "Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence" as the Royal Society Milner Award Lecture 2025 delivered by Professor Iryna Gurevych.
This livestream event requires prior registration with the Royal Society at the web address below.
https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2025/11/milner-lecture-2025/
SUMMARY
The Milner Award and Lecture 2025 is awarded to Professor Iryna Gurevych for her major contributions to natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence that combine deep understanding of human language and cognitive faculty with the latest paradigms in machine learning.Professor Iryna Gurevych’s current work is in machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). This is the field which has brought about Large Language Models, search engines, machine translation and similar applications. Iryna’s core research has focused on modelling semantic similarities of words, sentences and documents. This foundational methodology is at the very heart of making computers understand human language. With the rise of deep learning, Iryna has worked on deep learning for NLP with a strong focus on efficiency and modularity. She has contributed to information consolidation, information search and innovative applications of NLP in Social Sciences and Humanities. Iryna was among the pioneers in making computers extract and analyse arguments from unstructured text. She has recently become interested in AI and NLP for Mental Health and fighting misinformation, as well as Large Language Models and bettering language-based Human-AI cooperation.
SPEAKER
Iryna Gurevych (born in Vinnytsia, Ukraine) is a computer scientist and Professor at the Department of Computer Science of the Technical University of Darmstadt. Gurevych received her diploma in English and German Linguistics from the Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University in 1998. In 2001, she received her PhD in Computational Linguistics from the University of Duisburg-Essen. From 2001 to 2007, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the European Media Lab and EML Research and the Technical University of Darmstadt. As head of an Emmy Noether Research Group funded by the German Research Foundation, Gurevych then founded the 'Ubiquitous Knowledge Processing' (UKP) Lab. She was awarded a Lichtenberg Professorship of the Volkswagen Foundation in 2008. In 2009, she was promoted to full professor and headed several multi-institutional research centres. Since 2020, Gurevych has been co-director of the Natural Language Processing (NLP) program of ELLIS, a European Network of Excellence in Machine Learning. In 2020, Gurevych was selected as a Fellow of the international scientific Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) for her outstanding contributions in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. In 2023, she served as the president of ACL. Gurevych received the first LOEWE top-professorship from the state of Hesse in March 2021, and an ERC Advanced Grant for her project InterText in 2022. She is a member of BBAW and the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.## Attending the event
- The event is free to join, please register via register via Eventbrite
- Live subtitles will be available in-person and virtually
### Attending online
- The lecture will also be livestreamed here and on the Royal Society YouTube channel
- You can take part in the live Q&A via Slido
- This event will be recorded (including the live Q&A) and the recording will be available on YouTube soon after the event
For all enquiries, please contact awards@royalsociety.org.
1 attendeeRoyal Institution "Thought experiments powering future physics"
The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London, GBThis livestream from the Royal Institution of Great Britain invites you to join physicist Vlatko Vedral who explores "Thought experiments powering future physics", and presents a number of key thought experiments that test the foundations of physics, namely the interface between quantum physics and general relativity. .
ADVANCE BOOKING AND PAYMENT IS REQUIRED FOR THIS TALK.
More details and booking instructions on the RI web site:https://www.rigb.org/whats-on/thought-experiments-powering-future-physics
SUMMARY
General relativity is our best theory of gravity, and it remains a completely classical theory despite many attempts to quantize it. Some of the thought experiments are aimed at testing how quantum physics changes the concepts of space and time that are key to understanding general relativity, while others explore how the key principle of general relativity, the so-called equivalence principle, could affect quantum physics and lead to its modification. Join Vlatko to discover how the realisation of these theories could transform our understanding of quantum physics.Vlatko's book "Portals to a New Reality" will be available after the talk and from booksellers.
TIMING
The livestream will open at 6.55pm and the talk will start promptly at 7.00pm.PRICING:
Theatre audience: £16/£10, Ri Members or Ri Patrons: £7; Livestream audience: pay what you can (£5 minimum); Eventbrite booking fee not includedIf you register but miss the livestream, the video will normally be available to you via the same link for two weeks after the event date.
For more information on livestreams, see the information below, or visit our FAQs page. Please use the event link you have been provided with.
By booking to attend events at the Royal Institution, you confirm that you have read and accept the Ri's event terms and conditions. You also agree to abide by our code of conduct, and help to create a great experience for yourself and your fellow participants.
2 attendees
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