Kings Maritime History Seminars 2025-26

Posted: Thursday 25th September 2025

The King’s Seminars are an annual set of lectures organised by the BCMH, which run from October to May. They are open to the public and are normally held at King’s College London (and broadcast live via Zoom). The Kings Seminars are a range of lectures by invited speakers. There are usually two each month during term time.

The series is organised by Dr Alan James, and are supported by the Society for Nautical Research and the ‘Laughton Naval History Unit’ and ‘Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War’ at the Department of War Studies, King's College London. 

Lecture dates

2 October 2025

Sea Power Thought in the Cold War

Andrew Livsey, King’s College London

16 October 2025

1650s and 60s, Officer Radicalism in the English navy

Ben Redding, University of East Anglia

30 October 2025 - please not this date has been cancelled

13 November 2025

Procurement for Peace

Alex Clarke, Independent Naval Historian & Founding Member of ShipShape

27 November 2025

S/S Wanja and M/V Mim: the Ships that Changed Strategies in the North Atlantic early in WWII

Synnøve Marie Kvam, Project S/S Wanja & M/V Mim

11 December 2025

Annual Proctor Memorial Lecture *Ticketed event held at Lloyd's Register Foundation - details on location and how to register released closer to time. 

“We won!” The Cod Wars and the confessions of a historian who became head of state

Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, University of Iceland

15 January 2026

Researching Invisible Seafaring Family Histories

Asif Shakoor, Independent Scholar, in conversation with Dr Georgie Wemyss, Co-Director of Centre for Research on Migration, Refugees and Belonging (CMRB) at the University of East London

Find out more about the series including joining instructions.