The McCosh Lecture 2025

Professor Irene Tracey, ‘The Neuroscience of Belief’

Professor Tracey is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford and Professor of Anaesthetic Neuroscience. For the past 25 years, Professor Tracey has been a world leader in furthering our understanding of pain perception, relief, and processing using advanced neuroimaging techniques and novel paradigm designs. Her work has both discovery and translational elements and has contributed to a fundamental change in how we view pain as an emergent experience not simply related to sensory inputs. Professor Tracey is a passionate advocate for women in science, has served on a range of national and international committees, and is the recipient of numerous awards for medical research, including her appointment in 2022 as Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In the McCosh Lecture for 2025, Professor Tracey will explore the connections between neuroscience and religious belief to help us better understand the relationship between religion and the human.

Light refreshments will be served afterwards. Please register for the event by clicking here