Find below summaries of our lectures back to 1987, and links to recordings of some of the more recent events.
Each year CaSE's Annual Lecture brings together our members and the sector to hear from influential figures about the big issues affecting UK R&D.
CaSE's 40th Anniversary: Reimagining R&D, with Professor Sir Ian Chapman, CEO of UKRI giving the Annual Lecture on 10 February 2026
Read a summary, watch the full recording, and browse some photos of the event.
2009 – Prof John Beddington, Government Chief Scientific Advisor
Science in Government: Challenges for the 21st Century
2007 – David Willetts MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, University and Skills
Science and Education
2006 – Lord May of Oxford, former President of the Royal Society and former Government Chief Scientific Adviser
How to stimulate creativity and how to stifle it
2005 – Professor Sir David King FRS, the UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser
An insider’s view of science in Government
2004 – Rt Hon Chris Patten, Former Governor of Hong Kong, and Chancellor of Oxford and Newcastle Universities
Research – The European Challenge
2003 – Professor Howard Dalton FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
2002 – Sir Gareth Roberts FRS, President of Wolfson College, Oxford, and of the Science Council
2001 – Professor Sir Harold Kroto FRS, Nobel Laureate, member of the SBS Advisory Council
The Internet and Science, Technology and Engineering Education
2000 – Dr Mike Dexter, Director of the Wellcome Trust
Where would UK science be without the charities?
1999 – Dr Andrew Mackenzie, Group Vice President of Technology at BP Amoco
Science, energy and progress
1998 – Rt Hon John Redwood MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
British Science and Industry: What should the Government do?
1997 – Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP, President of the Board of Trade
1996 – Ian Taylor MBE MP, Minister for Science
British Science: a bright outlook for the future
1995 – Sir Derek Roberts CBE FRS FEng, Provost of UCL
Science: the roles of foresight and hindsight
1994 – Rt Hon Paddy Ashdown MP, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party
1993 – Rt Hon John Smith QC MP, Leader of the Opposition
1992 – Prof J.M.Howie FRSE
A British Baccalaureate: some thoughts from Scotland
1991 – Dr Robert Malpas CBE FREng
1990 – Debate between Alan Howarth MP and Jeremy Bray MP, chaired by John Maddox
1988 – Lord Adrian FRS, Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
1987 – Sir James Lighthill, Provost of UCL
CaSE’s 40th Anniversary: Reimagining R&D
13 February 2026
Our 2026 conference allowed people from across the sector and beyond to hear panels of experts discuss the important issues facing UK R&D, and to ask questions to key figures influencing the future of the sector.
Annual Lecture 2024 with Ilan Gur
13 December 2024
CaSE’s 2024 Annual Lecture was given by Ilan Gur, CEO of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) on December 12th.
Annual Lecture 2023 – Science advice to government
23 November 2023
The 2023 CaSE Annual Lecture was given by Prof Dame Angela McLean.
CaSE Annual Lecture 2022 – We need to talk about science
09 March 2023
CaSE’s 2022 Annual Lecture, given by Kim Shillinglaw, explored how the UK can forge a deeper and broader public connection with research and innovation.
CaSE Annual Lecture 2021 with the Director of the NSF
17 November 2021
Read our write-up from the CaSE Annual Lecture 2021 given by the Director of the National Science Foundation, Dr Sethuraman Panchanathan.
CaSE Annual Lecture 2020 with the Chief Executive of UKRI
11 November 2020
Read our summary or watch back the entire CaSE Annual Lecture, given by the UKRI Chief Executive Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser on Thursday 5th November.
CaSE Annual Lecture 2019 – Embedding Science in the Heart of Government
23 January 2020
Read our summary or watch back the entire CaSE Annual Lecture, delivered by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance
CaSE Annual Lecture 2018: ‘Making Artificial Intelligence A Reality’
20 December 2018
James Tooze reviews this year’s CaSE lecture on the role of government in the future success of AI, with a link to watch the lecture back in full.