Events

The CSRS Weekly Lecture Series - April-May 2025

These CSRS lectures feature our fellows and special guests. They are held from 12:00-1:00 pm Pacific Time on Wednesdays (unless otherwise noted). The location of the lecture is available upon registration for limited in-person audience. The general public is welcome to join us online without registration. Simply click the lecture attendance button on top of this events page to do so. Please sign in at least five minutes prior to the lecture. Click lecturers' names to see more details.

Scholars in the Square: Our Public Lecture Format

The CSRS Weekly Lecture Series

January-April 2025

These CSRS lectures feature our fellows and special guests. They are held from 5:00-6:00 pm Pacific Time on Thursdays throughout the academic year, with the exception of some special lectures (see dates below with an asterisk* for exceptions). 

Scholars in the Square: Our New Public Lecture Format

We are delighted to launch the brand-new Scholars in the Square format in September 2023. These lectures will be held in an intimate venue, with a maximum in-person audience of 20 people (except for special lectures. Please email us at csrs@uvic.ca if you are interested in attending in person). The speaker will present their lecture in 20 minutes, after which the CSRS director and an interlocutor with expertise in the speaker’s topic will engage the speaker in conversation for 20 minutes. The “Square” in our new format refers to the public square, and so in the final 20 minutes of the event, we will take questions from the other people in the room and from an online audience. The talks will then be posted on our website. This format helps us to share with the world the very best of the CSRS: collegial conversations that build bridges between specialists and broadly curious members of the public.

The general public is welcome to join us online. To join the lecture online, click the button below. Please sign in at least five minutes prior to the lecture.

Click here to attend the lecture (will become available in January)

Click speakers' names for more details.​ Click here to access our YouTube channel for recordings.

All lectures include audience Q&A. 

Audio recordings of past lectures are available on UVic's SoundCloud site and the videos for the John Albert Hall Lectures are available on our Vimeo page. 

The CSRS Weekly Lecture Series

September-December 2024

These CSRS lectures feature our fellows and special guests. They are held from 5:00-6:00 pm Pacific Time on Thursdays throughout the academic year, with the exception of some special lectures (see dates below with an asterisk* for exceptions). 

Scholars in the Square: Our Public Lecture Format

We are pleased to highlight the research of our fellows and visiting scholars in our Scholars in the Square public lecture series. The lectures are held weekly in an intimate venue, with a maximum audience of 20 people. The unique format includes a 20 minute lecture, a 20 minute discussion with a designated dialogue partner, and 20 minutes of audience Q&A. This format helps us to share with the world the very best of the CSRS: collegial conversations that build bridges between specialists and broadly curious members of the public.

The general public is welcome to join us online. To join the lecture online, click the button below. Please sign in at least five minutes prior to the lecture.

Click here to attend the lecture online

All lectures include audience Q&A. 

An invitation for in-person attendance for each lecture is sent to subscribers of our Lecture Notices. Please sign up from the green button above.

Video/audio recordings of our past lectures are available on YouTube from the link above, UVic's SoundCloud site (audio only), and Vimeo page. 

Coming up for John Albert Hall Lectures 

(click the title for more detail)

Where We Live: Critical Perspectives on Our Natural and Built Environments

When: Saturday, April 26

Where: Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria

The John Albert Hall Lectures are a multi-part speaker series featuring expert perspectives on the changing role of religion in contemporary society. Support for this series is generously provided by the Anglican Diocese of Islands and Inlets through the John Albert Hall Trust. 

Watch here our past JAH lectures on the CSRS YouTube channel. 

Special Events

The CSRS hosts a range of special events including conferences, symposia, tours, and one-off lectures, often in collaboration with other UVic departments, community organizations, or affiliates.

Click the image below for more information on upcoming special events.

MEICON-BC events

The Middle East and Islamic Consortium of British Columbia (MEICON-BC) is a collaborative project of Simon Fraser University (Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures), the University of Victoria, and the University of British Columbia. The University of Victoria hosts UVic MEICON, a sub-group of the larger MEICON-BC collective.

• 14th Annual MEICON-BC Student Conference on the Middle East and the Islamic World (March, 2024)

Distinguished Lecture in Islam

The CSRS presents lectures from an eminent scholar working in fields related to Islamic studies. A fund supporting this lecture series was established in 2007 by an anonymous donor who wished to increase the community's understanding of Islam.

Past Events

March 15th, 2019 -- "Religion and its Others: Power, Sovereignty, and Politics in Indian Religions Past and Present" Sponsored by the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. Please click here for the symposium agenda.

Centre-Cine Film Series

Examples of past Centre-Cine films:

Night and Fog (Director: Alain Resnais) Watch it here on Vimeo.

Just Mercy (Director: Destin Daniel Cretton) Watch a trailer here.

From September through April, the CSRS presents feature or documentary films as part of the Centre-Cine Film Series. The films are carefully chosen to explore questions of morality, culture, the search for meaning, and other themes arising from the human spiritual journey.

Centre-Cine participants from centre fellows will be sent the name of selected films. It is up to participants to locate and watch the films themselves. All participants are then invited to meet for a group discussion on the films with CSRS Artist-in-Residence, Terry Marner, acting as a facilitator. All films in the series will be available on Netflix and most will be available from the Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL) on DVD. Viewers may have to place a hold on the movie if they are using the GVPL.