Free Lectures at Harvard

Submitted by ProfessionalKick2925 t3_zmm7ga in CambridgeMA

Can the general public sit in on lectures at Harvard or is there a set of lectures that are free?

I am sure there are excellent lecturers that come through Harvard and I’d like to hear a couple.

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BigBallerBrad t1_j0bs681 wrote

Additionally, are there any resources for online lectures?

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crundar t1_j0bt0kv wrote

Very often there are lectures open to the public.

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dtmfadvice t1_j0bxorq wrote

Not for the general classes but there are a lot of groups that do public-facing events, both online and in person. The Joint Center for Housing Studies has had a number of good ones on climate and housing recently.

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Is there a specific topic you'd be interested in learning more about?

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LaAndala t1_j0c23lb wrote

For a lot of classes you would need to ask permission from the professor/lecturer, but I’m not sure how it works for individual lectures. I did audit a lot of classes but I was first a Harvard spouse and then working there myself, and you get an ID then, so it might be impossible if you dont have ID. I would start by looking at edx/harvardx online because a lot of really popular classes have an online variant for free there too. But that’s more common for, say, computer science than for deep sea biology. They also used to have in person lecture series for the general public, like Science and Cooking, where you just show up when the lectures are happening and if you’re early enough you get a seat, but I can’t find the overview of all the lectures like that online anymore. I guess you can find them at the events part of Harvard.edu. And you could always consider applying to Harvard Extension School!

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MiaHavero t1_j0dfab1 wrote

Many organizations at Harvard have their own series of public talks. Examples are:

There are probably many more events run by Harvard's other individual schools, departments, and institutes.

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