This series of informal and enjoyable discussion meetings offer a forum for research ideas at an early stage of formulation. These ‘blue skies’ events take place about twice each semester around the table in the congenial IASH meeting room; they are open to all members of staff in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, but for reasons of space and to help concentrate discussion, numbers at each meeting are limited to 12 – 15. Each meeting is free to structure discussion as it wishes; no ‘outcomes’ are inferred or required! Speculative lunches usually take place between 1 and 2pm on Mondays or Fridays. Sandwiches and soft drinks are provided. To propose an event, contact iash@ed.ac.uk. Speculative Lunches have been held on: Gender Research @ Edinburgh Reparations for Slavery Photography in Research Nature The City Habit Sacred Space Memory Practice-Based Research Decadence Beauty Humanities and Climate Change Oral Culture The Uncanny Mestizaje, Créolité and Hybridity Word and Image Peace-Building Entrepreneurial Narratives Medical Humanities Mind and Metaphor Money and Markets Guided Experience Patrick Geddes: Polymath Interdisciplinary Eighteenth Century Studies Film Studies in the University Exploring the missing links between the humanities and business studies: towards a more ‘human business’? Suggestions for other topics are welcome. If you (either alone or with a small group of colleagues) have an idea you think is promising – or simply very interesting – and would like to know what colleagues from different Schools might have to contribute from another perspective, get in touch with us and we’ll organise an event for you. To sponsor a Speculative Lunch, contact iash@ed.ac.uk. This article was published on Tuesday 6 August 2024