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At QED we couldn’t make our event work without the excellent help of our volunteers who help us make sure the conference runs smoothly for all our speakers and attendees. With this year’s event just two months away, we’re putting out a call to all our attendees to ask that anyone who would like to volunteer gets in touch.

As QED has grown over the years, so too has the QED Fringe—the series of events and get-togethers which take place before QED starts on Saturday morning. In previous years, we‘ve had quizzes, social events, and unofficial fringe events from our friends at the Greater Manchester Skeptics, and QED 2018 is going to be no exception.

From the archives! In this talk from QED 2017, prison lawyer Emma McClure examines the issues with forensic techniques, highlighting the amusing, confusing and sometimes tragic consequences of failing to take a skeptical approach to evidence in the field of forensic science.

Each year at QED, we like to give our attendees the opportunity to experience something different. In previous years, we’ve had a high-end Tesla available to test drive, and we’ve had a room filled with mind-bending visual illusions courtesy of Richard Wiseman. With that in mind, this year we’ll be giving attendees the opportunity to enjoy a Virtual Reality experience.

We are delighted to be able to announce the latest exciting addition to the QED main stage line-up for 2018: J WiIlgoose Esq, the creative talent behind the band Public Service Broadcasting.

For the fifth year running, we are pleased to be hosting Skepticamp at QED, where the attendees are responsible for the creation and delivery of the days content, and anyone is welcome to present a talk.

Saturday nights at QED are always special, and this year we are delighted to bring you the Ockham Awards, magician Eli Bosnick, comedian Alun Cochrane, and a special performance of The Broad Street Score by George Hrab.

The QED team are thrilled to be able to announce our next speaker for QED 2018, head of the Speech Communication Group at University College London’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Professor Sophie Scott.

With a little over three months until QED 2018—the last QED of the decade—we’re pleased to add two more fantastic speakers to our line up: mathematician and broadcaster Hannah Fry, and co-founder of CICAP Massimo Polidoro.

Tickets to QED 2018 are now on sale, priced £113, or £75 for students and under 18s. QED 2018 takes place on the 13th-14th October 2018, with Friday 12th October again featuring a free Skepticamp event.

Each year at QED, we’ve held our Gala Dinner on Saturday evening as an opportunity for some of our attendees to enjoy a three-course meal in the company of our speakers. This year, however, rather than our normal Gala Dinner, we’re introducing the Charity Dinner, as an opportunity to raise some money for an organisation doing the kind of skeptical work our community can be proud of.

QED, the UKʼs largest celebration of science, reason and critical thinking, will return for its eighth year on the 13th–14th October, with guests including performer and podcaster George Hrab, comedian and self-professed nerd Helen Arney, and the award-winning science podcast ‘The Skepticsʼ Guide to the Universe’.