Edith Morley Lecture: In conversation with Polly Vacher MBE

Friday, 23 February 2018

University alumna Polly Vacher MBE will be in conversation with Vice-Chancellor, Sir David Bell, as part of the Edith Morley Lecture this year.

The event starts at 6.30pm on Monday 5 March at the Van Emden Lecture Theatre (Edith Morley Building, Whiteknights campus).

Admission to the event is free but booking is essential, as places are limited. Use this link to book a place.

Polly Vacher, a former master’s student in Music Education at the University, is a pioneering aviation enthusiast. She has made several long-distance flights in single-engine aircraft in aid of Flying Scholarships for Disabled People – a charity that allows people with disabilities to pilot aeroplanes themselves.

In 2001, she entered the history books after completing a solo eastbound circumnavigation of the world in her Piper PA-28 Cherokee Dakota.

In 2004, she became the first woman to fly solo over the North Polar regions, flying over the North Pole, Antarctica and all seven continents.

She was awarded an MBE for services to charity in 2002.

The University renamed a building in her honour in 2017. The Polly Vacher building houses the Department of Computer Science, the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Knowledge Transfer Centre. It also houses the Anxiety and Depression in Young People Research Unit (AnDY), which carries out research to help young people understand and overcome anxiety disorders that can get in the way of day-to-day life.

Edith Morley

The Edith Morley Lecture is a special annual event is in memory of Edith Morley, believed to be the first woman to be awarded the title professor at an English university.

Appointed as a professor of English Language at Reading in 1908, Professor Morley was dedicated to her subject, her students and her cause. She believed that women should have an equal place in academia and society, and was an inspiring and motivating force for the young people around her.

Over 100 years on, we are pleased to celebrate this extraordinary part of our heritage with this annual event to inspire young women today to achieve great things.