Whatʼs On at QED

Subhadra Das is a writer, historian, broadcaster and comedian who looks at the relationship between science and society. She specialises in the history and philosophy of science, particularly the history of scientific racism and eugenics. For nine years she was Curator of the Science Collections at University College London. She has written and presented podcasts and stand-up comedy shows, curated museum exhibitions, and has appeared on radio and TV. Her first book Uncivilised: Ten Lies That Made The West was published in February 2024.

Annie Kelly is a journalist and researcher specialising in digital antifeminism, conspiracy theories and the far right. She completed her PhD about digital antifeminist networks at the University of East Anglia in 2020 and worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the AHRC-funded ‘Everything is Connected: Conspiracy Theories in the Age of the Internet’ project at King’s College London. She is the UK correspondent for the QAA Podcast (formerly QAnon Anonymous).

Michael Marshall is the Project Director of the Good Thinking Society, President of the Merseyside Skeptics Society, and editor of The Skeptic. He is the co-host of The Know Rogan Podcast, and has been the co-host of Skeptics with a K for over 15 years. He has interviewed proponents of pseudoscience for over a decade for the Be Reasonable podcast, and is a regular contributor to God Awful Movies, The Scathing Atheist, and The Skepticrat. He has gone undercover to investigate psychics, conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and alternative medicine practitioners. His investigative work has informed reporting across the UK media, and he has given lectures on journalism and PR to undergraduate students as part of degree courses at several universities.

Sian Norris is a writer and journalist, currently working as Senior Investigations Reporter at openDemocracy. Her book, Bodies Under Siege: how the far right attack on reproductive rights went global, was published by Verso in 2023. She has reported from the UK, Ukraine, Poland, Kenya, Bangladesh and Romania for the Times, Observer, i news, the Ferret, the Lead, the Guardian and many more.

Cyriac Abby Philips is a clinician-scientist in Hepatology at Rajagiri Hospital, Kochi, Kerala, India, a medical science communicator, and public-health social-media activist. Under the viral handle ‘The Liver Doc,’ he combats health misinformation, superstition and dogma in the Indian subcontinent, informing 430,000-plus followers across X, Instagram and YouTube about dangers of pseudoscientific practices, alternative medicine and the wellness industry. His myth-busting posts are consistently profiled by national & international media, making him India’s most litigated science communicator and the target of multiple suits from Ayurveda & Homeopathy industry. Philips is a leading authority on herb- and supplement-induced liver injury. His honours include the President of India’s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence in Hepatology (2016), multiple investigator awards from American and European liver societies, Indian Society of Gastroenterology’s Rising Star Award (2022) and Indian Medical Association's coveted Social Media Award (2023). HarperCollins will publish his non-fiction debut, The Liver Doctor, in 2025.

Naomi Ryan is a criminal and public law barrister. After completing the BCL at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, she taught criminal law to undergraduates at St Hilda’s College Oxford and University College London before embarking on her career as a criminal barrister. She both prosecuted and defended before moving to the Civil Service, where she has worked for an array of prestigious departments, including the Attorney General’s Office, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Court of Appeal. She continues to work as an advisory barrister on criminal matters. When she isn’t advising legal luminaries, she delivers spirited (!) talks on macabre events in legal history. She is a regular feature at London’s Month of the Dead festival, and can often be found addressing museums and other legal and supernatural organisations on the spooky and scintillating topic of ghost law. Her favourite subjects include ghosts as witnesses, the prosecution of fraudulent mediums and the High Court’s treatment of demon mongooses called Gef.

Matthew Sweet is co-writer, with Mark Gatiss, of the U&Alibi series, Bookish. He presents Free Thinking on BBC Radio 4 and Sound of Cinema on BBC Radio 3. His 25 years of programmes include The Culture Show (BBC2), Checking into History (C4), five series of The Philosophers Arms (Radio 4) and 1922: The Birth of Now, a ten-part history of modernism (Radio 4). He is the author of Inventing the Victorians, Shepperton Babylon, The West End Front and Operation Chaos. His novel, The New Forest Murders was published in June; his biography Barbara Cartland: The Great Dictator is published next year.

‘Monkey Business’, is the amazing, strange-but-true story behind the weird stuff advertised in vintage American comics. Trickster Paul Zenon presents this deep-dive into the cynical sea of con tricks targeting kids - a world of wonder, promising the Moon on a stick, but which generally delivered just a stick. A really small one. Science-laced nostalgia with a darker twist than you might imagine!

InKredulous is the skeptical, satirical panel show from the Merseyside Skeptics Society. Since the very first QED in 2011, the live taping of InKredulous has been one of the weekend’s highlights, with each show bringing together some of our favourite comic minds for an unpredictable ramble through a mix of topical tales and unlikely stories from pseudoscience history.

Featuring for the final time, your host Andy Wilson.

The Know Rogan Experience is the show where two podcasters with no previous Rogan experience get to know Joe Rogan, hosted by veteran podcasters Cecil Cicirello and Michael Marshall. Conceived in the wake of the 2024 US Presidential Election, where Rogan’s role in converting young white male listeners into Donald Trump voters, Know Rogan looks in depth at the role of the world’s most popular podcast in spreading misinformation and introducing millions of followers to conspiracy theories and the figures who promote them.

Skeptics with a K is produced by Skeptic Media in association with the Merseyside Skeptics Society, and features QED co-organisers Mike Hall, Dr Alice Howarth, and Michael Marshall.

First airing in August 2009, each episode features skeptical breakdowns of credulous newspaper stories, the latest health fads, myths and misconceptions, and reports on skeptical activism and undercover investigations. Over 400 episodes later, including multiple QED live shows, Skeptics with a K has become one of the most popular skeptical podcasts from the UK.

Now more than ever, it is important that government policies are based on good, reliable evidence. So how can we, as members of the public help politicians to make the right decisions… or at least make it difficult for politicians to make bad decisions? Join public engagement specialist Dr Jamie Gallagher to understand what MPs have the ability to do, how laws are made in Westminster, how parliament functions, and how you can be part of the system and influence those discussions and decisions.