The National Humanities Lecture is a major new annual event that celebrates the vital role of the humanities in public life. We are honoured to welcome historian, author, and award-winning filmmaker David Olusoga as our inaugural speaker. In his lecture, Professor Olusoga will make the case for the humanities and explore how new ideas about humanities, heritage and institutions are emerging – from virtual museums, to hyper-local history projects and alternative city tours. What is the public role of the historian in an age of populism and digital disruption? How might museums adapt to our more interconnected world and to the phenomenon of 'contested heritage'? How can the humanities adapt to an era of Podcasts and Substack? And what are the broader intersections between the humanities and public life? Drawing together thinking from history, political culture and public humanities, he will ask what new forms our cultural institutions might take, and how they might support a more equitable, connected society.