Humanists UK Convention 2025
Friday 13 June, 19:00 –
Sunday 15 June, 15:15
Octagon Centre
Clarkson Street,
Sheffield
S10 2TQ
Taking place alongside Convention 2025
Humanism in Action
Friday 13 June,
11:00–17:00
Humanists UK AGM
(Members only)
Sunday 15 June,
15:45–17:30
Humanists UK Convention 2025 | Sheffield
13–15 June
A real mind-boosting treat! My first convention, and it exceeded expectations.
Humanists UK Convention 2024 attendee
Brilliant speakers, great atmosphere, lots of really nice interesting people to talk to. My first conference and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Humanists UK Convention 2023 attendee
Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. The atmosphere is great!
Humanists UK Convention 2024 attendee
I enjoyed the high quality speakers who brought so many ideas and such understanding to us. I felt thrilled to belong to an organisation which takes action at the highest levels of politics and does so much work in so many fields. I enjoyed the sense of being with people who shared my values and were of similar mind. Thank you to all who organised it.
Humanists UK Convention 2019 attendee
Comedy was brilliant. Speakers were brilliant. Delegates were brilliant.
Humanists UK Convention 2019 attendee
It’s like in the old days, when we used to read newspapers – when you turn the page, you’re not sure what you’re going to get. So it can be challenging and thought-provoking, but most of all it is an oasis of greatness in a world that is going absolutely mad.
Humanists UK Convention 2019 attendee
As someone attending my first convention, it was very easy to meet and discuss things even if I was not certain on my position on the topics – the friendliness of those attending gave space to discuss and explore the ideas.
Humanists UK Convention 2022 attendee
I loved the gala dinner, meeting other humanists, and enjoying being in the company of so many lovely and inspiring people.
Humanists UK Convention 2024 attendee
Humanists UK Convention 2025 | Sheffield
13-15 June
Special Keynote
Guest Speaker
Alfredo
Carpineti
and more to come…
Humanists UK Convention 2025 | Sheffield
13–15 June
Early Bird Tickets for Humanists UK Convention 2025 are £128, and we have a special rate of just £59 for students.
Ticket-holders are entitled to attend all sessions of Convention 2025 from Friday evening comedy through to Sunday afternoon.
Three servings of freshly brewed coffee and hot water with a selection of teabags on Saturday, and on Sunday.
Hot and cold buffet lunch | Saturday
- Soft flour wraps
- Smoked salmon and dill tartlet
- Steamed duck gyoza with hoisin sauce
- Mushroom and truffle arancini (V)
- Chip shop bites with creamy lemon vegannaise (Ve)
- Fragrant vegetable fritter with sweet chilli dip (Ve)
- Broccoli and cauliflower tots with Korean gochujang Dip (Ve)
Hot and cold buffet lunch | Sunday
- Soft flour wraps
- Asparagus wrapped in Parma ham
- Chorizo cups filled with chicken in smoked paprika sauce
- Baked turmeric and beetroot tortilla chips with edamame and mint dip (Ve)
- Indian potato dumpling with mango chutney (Ve)
- Fragrant vegetable fritter with sweet chilli dip (Ve)
- Broccoli and cauliflower tots with Korean gochujang Dip (Ve)
The range of hot refreshments includes Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea and a selection of their Fruit and Herbal teas. Our venue also serves ethically sourced, single-origin premium coffee, from Roastology. These refreshments are served in 100% recyclable disposable cups.
The coffee is sourced single origin from the CENCOIC cooperative in Columbia and roasted in Sheffield just two miles away from our venue, by their friends at Roastology.
Cow’s milk and oat milk will be available as standard.
We include these as optional add-ons to allow attendees to choose the shape of their weekend, while keeping the basic ticket price as low as possible.
N.B. The options listed above are illustrative and may change.
Prosecco drinks reception
Three-course dinner
To begin
- INOX Freshly baked bread and Henderson’s butter
Starter
- Thai curried sweet potato soup with crispy noodles and pickled chillies (V) (Ve)
- Asparagus spears, heritage tomatoes, crispy egg, and basil hollandaise (V)
- Gin cured salmon with dill pickled cucumber soda bread and tonic jelly
Main
- Glazed celeriac steak, apple, hazelnuts, feta, lemon dressed broccoli, and pomegranate with mini roast potatoes (V) (Ve)
- Basil gnocchi, sweetcorn puree, confit heritage toms, asparagus, broad beans, crispy egg (V)
- Roasted loin of moss valley pork, sage mash, crispy black pudding, sage roasted carrots and broccoli
Dessert
- Pear and anise tarte tatin with Earl Grey ice cream (v) (Ve)
- Bouillon dark chocolate marquise, rhubarb, roasted hazelnuts, our cow Molly lemon, and ginger ice cream (V)
To finish
- Freshly brewed coffee and tea with petit fours
And a half bottle of wine per person
N.B. The options listed above are illustrative and may change.
Humanists UK Convention 2025 | Sheffield
13–15 June
Getting to Sheffield
Sheffield is well-connected from across the UK. You can reach Sheffield city centre by train direct from Birmingham or Manchester in 60 minutes or less, direct from London in under two hours, and direct from Bristol in under three hours – all far faster than driving, even in the best conditions (according to Google Maps).
Getting to our venue
Sheffield railway station is directly integrated with the city’s Supertram network, which passes through the city centre – host to a range of hotels – and serves our venue (with the University of Sheffield tram stop).
There is a taxi rank outside Sheffield station, which also serves private hire cars.
There is a Q-Park car park located just across the road from our venue.
Humanists UK Convention 2025 | Sheffield
13–15 June
Dr Alfredo Carpinenti
Dr Alfredo Carpineti (he/him) is an astrophysicist and communicator, working for IFLScience for nine years. He is the staff writer and space correspondent. He is committed to fighting inequity in STEM and is the chair and founder of Pride in STEM, the largest UK charity dedicated to supporting LGBT People in STEM.
He’s an avid science communicator producing videos and podcasts under the moniker The Astroholic. He’s writing a book, Invisible Rainbows, about all the astronomical discoveries conducted with light beyond the range that humans can see.
Andrew Copson
Andrew Copson is Chief Executive of Humanists UK, responsible for day-to-day management of the organisation as a whole, and management of the staff team. He has been Chief Executive of Humanists UK since 2010, prior to which he worked across educational and public affairs roles within the charity.
He is an expert on humanism who has written widely on the subject, and is regularly invited to appear on TV and radio news programmes. As well as these roles, Andrew is a trustee of the Religious Education Council and President of Humanists International – the umbrella body bringing the global humanist movement together to pursue human rights at an international level.
Madeleine Goodall
Madeleine Goodall is the Humanist Heritage Coordinator for Humanists UK, researching and writing about the history of humanism to celebrate the organisation’s 125th birthday. She has a background in education, museums, and community history, and is also Humanists UK’s Wikimedian in Residence. She currently leads on a two-year National Lottery Heritage Fund project – Humanist Heritage: doers, dreamers, place makers – which focuses on the remarkable freethinkers and activists who changed the world, and the communities they built around them.
Charlotte Lydia Riley
Charlotte Lydia Riley is a historian of 20th-century Britain at the University of Southampton, specialising in questions about empire, politics, culture and identity. She is editor of The Free Speech Wars and author of Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain. Her writing has appeared in a wide range of publications including the Guardian, New Statesman, Financial Times, Washington Post and History Today.
Humanists UK Convention 2025 | Sheffield
13–15 June
Invisible rainbows
The light we can see is only a small part of the whole electromagnetic spectrum. From radio waves to gamma rays, there is so much of the universe that is invisible to us and we will explore these phenomenal objects and events in this talk.
Is free speech under threat?
In Is Free Speech Under Threat? Charlotte Lydia Riley will explore the contemporary moment which sees such fraught discussions around issues of freedom of speech, censorship and ‘cancellation’. She will argue that accusations of cancel culture and defences of free speech are too often disingenuous attempts to fuel a culture war, and so inhibit an important realignment in which hateful speech is at last being called out for what it is. Who gets to exercise free speech, and what happens when powerful voices think they have been silenced? And is cancel culture actually a demonstration of an abundance of speech, not its limitation?
Andrew Copson
Andrew Copson is Chief Executive of Humanists UK, responsible for day-to-day management of the organisation as a whole, and management of the staff team. He has been Chief Executive of Humanists UK since 2010, prior to which he worked across educational and public affairs roles within the charity.
He is an expert on humanism who has written widely on the subject, and is regularly invited to appear on TV and radio news programmes. As well as these roles, Andrew is a trustee of the Religious Education Council and President of Humanists International – the umbrella body bringing the global humanist movement together to pursue human rights at an international level.
Madeleine Goodall
Madeleine Goodall is the Humanist Heritage Coordinator for Humanists UK, researching and writing about the history of humanism to celebrate the organisation’s 125th birthday. She has a background in education, museums, and community history, and is also Humanists UK’s Wikimedian in Residence. She currently leads on a two-year National Lottery Heritage Fund project – Humanist Heritage: doers, dreamers, place makers – which focuses on the remarkable freethinkers and activists who changed the world, and the communities they built around them.
Charlotte Lydia Riley
Charlotte Lydia Riley is a historian of 20th-century Britain at the University of Southampton, specialising in questions about empire, politics, culture and identity. She is editor of The Free Speech Wars and author of Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain. Her writing has appeared in a wide range of publications including the Guardian, New Statesman, Financial Times, Washington Post and History Today.
Humanists UK Convention 2025 | Sheffield
13–15 June
Friday 13 June
| Start | End | Octagon | INOX Discovery Rooms | Octagon Foyer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:30 | 11:00 | Humanism in Action registration | ||
| 11:00 | 17:00 | Humanism in Action | ||
| 18:00 | 21:20 | Registration | ||
| 19:00 | 20:00 | Cash bar welcome drinks | Registration Exhibitions | |
| 20:00 | 22:00 | Evening entertainment | ||
| 22:00 | 23:30 | Drinks at the bar |
Saturday 14 June
| Start | End | Octagon | Uni Central | Octagon Bar | Octagon Foyer | INOX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:30 | Registration | |||||
| 09:00 | 12:10 | Morning sessions | Morning sessions | Registration Shop and exhibitions | ||
| 12:10 | 13:00 | Lunch (Lunch ticket-holders only) | Shop and exhibitions | |||
| 13:00 | 17:00 | Afternoon sessions | Afternoon sessions | Shop and exhibitions | ||
| 19:30 | 20:00 | Drinks reception | ||||
| 20:00 | 23:00 | Gala Dinner |
Sunday 15 June
| Start | End | Octagon | Uni Central | Octagon Bar | Octagon Foyer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:30 | Registration | ||||
| 10:00 | 12:00 | Morning sessions | Morning sessions | Shop and exhibitions | |
| 12:00 | 13:00 | Lunch (Lunch ticket-holders only) | |||
| 13:00 | 15:00 | Afternoon sessions | Afternoon sessions | AGM registration Shop and exhibitions | |
| 15:30 | 17:00 | AGM (Members only) | |||
| 17:00 | 18:00 | Drinks with Board members (Members only) |
Humanists UK Convention 2025 | Sheffield
13–15 June
Our base ticket does not include any food or refreshments, such as teas or coffees. We separate these out to allow us to offer the ticket at as low a price as possible, to allow as many people to attend as possible.
Years ago we took the decision to split out lunch and dinner from our standard ticket, to allow us substantially reduce the basic cost of attending our Convention. Attendees are welcome to add on coffees, teas, and lunches, and the Gala Dinner, or to arrange their own food from the range of nearby cafés, shops, and eateries during breaks.
No. As is standard, our venue’s terms and conditions do not allow food to be brought in from off the premises.
No. You should wear what you feel most comfortable wearing. Some people take a quick nap, freshen up, and have a change of clothes before dinner, while others will head out to see what Sheffield has to offer before returning for drinks.
No. The Gala Dinner on Saturday night is open only to Convention attendees with the Gala Dinner add-on.
Yes. We have added the option for attendees join the Gala Dinner without having also bought a lunch add-on. This decision makes the dinner a more affordable prospect for more attendees. However, you must still be a Convention attendee to attend the Gala Dinner.
Yes. We offer discounted tickets for students, and for disabled people.
If you have booked a Disabled Person’s ticket and will be attending with a carer, please email info@humanists.uk to let us know their name and email address, and we will assign them a complimentary ticket.
We also offer a limited number of discounted tickets for those on Universal Credit or Pension Credit. Please do choose a full-price ticket if you can afford to do so. It is full-price tickets sales that allow us to offer more affordable tickets for those who would otherwise be unable to attend.
We are unable to offer any discounts on add-ons.
Through splitting out lunch and dinner, we have reduced our minimum ticket price for everyone, to allow as many people as possible to attend each year. Our Early Bird ticket in 2025 is priced lower than our standard ticket for Convention 2015.
Accessibility information for the Octagon Centre (University of Sheffield) can be found here.
While our venue does not have car parking facilities of its own, there is a Q-Park car park located just across the road.
No. Unfortunately our systems are not capable of processing payments by instalment at this time.
No. If we are able to offer day tickets at a later stage, they will be displayed on this page, and announced by email to our members and supporters.
No. Attendees travelling to the event must arrange their own accommodation.
Yes. By default, the option to receive a printed programme is selected when booking your ticket. If you leave the checkbox selected, you will receive a full-colour printed booklet at registration. In the week before the event, all attendees will receive an electronic PDF programme by email, while this page will display a simplified timetable.
In 2022, we took the decision to make our programme available by request, to cut down on unnecessary printing and waste, as in previous years we printed a programme for each attendee, and always had many spare by the end of the weekend.
All attendees will be emailed a full-colour electronic version of the programme in the week of the event.
Humanists UK Convention 2025 | Sheffield
13–15 June
Convention 2025 Terms and Conditions
We are committed to providing a safe and hospitable environment at for attendees, volunteers, and staff at our events, and prohibit intimidating, threatening, or harassing conduct.
Cancellations
Bookings may be cancelled free of charge before 1 February 2025. Bookings cancelled before 1 April 2025 will incur a 50% charge of the full price of your ticket(s). Tickets cancelled from 1 April 2025 will not be refunded, but may, at the discretion of Humanists UK, be transferred to another eligible individual nominated by you if you notify us before 13 May 2025. Any refunds for ticket cancellations will be processed within two months.
N.B. We are unable to provide refunds or make amendments beyond the terms laid out above. Many insurance providers will offer Missed Event Insurance if you need to recoup your costs in the event that you are unable to attend.
Speakers
All appearances are subject to speakers’ work and other scheduling commitments.
Photography, video, and audio recording
Humanists UK reserves the right to photograph and record video and audio of all public sections of the Convention and to make public the footage as it sees appropriate. Please be aware that by attending Humanists UK Convention 2025, you consent to your voice, name, and/or likeness being used, without compensation, in any and all media, whether now known or hereafter devised, for eternity, and you release Humanists UK, its successors, assigns, and licensees from any liability whatsoever of any nature. If you would like to ensure that you are not captured in any media, please contact events@humanists.uk and we will do our best to accommodate you.