Since 2001, MAW has invited well-known, expert, and passionate speakers from a wide range of backgrounds to give our prestigious Annual Remembrance Lecture every November.
From 2001 until 2017 these were held on Remembrance Sunday in the large lecture theatre at the heart of the Imperial War Museum, with the enthusiastic support of museum staff. Due to building works this has not been possible since, so the 2018 lecture was held in St John’s Waterloo, the 2019 in Bloomsbury Baptist Church, while our 2020 lecture was given online due to the pandemic.
Click on the links for more about the speakers and lectures, including audio or video recordings and transcripts where available.
| Year | Lecturer | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Michael Mears, Actor | The role of the arts and culture in promoting peace and opposing war |  |
| 2022 | Kate Hudson, General Secretary CND UK | Nuclear Risks in the Light of the Ukraine War |  |
| 2021 | Asad Rehman, Executive Director, War on Want | ‘Walls, Fences and Guns’ – How militarised and racialised capitalism is destroying the world |  |
| 2020 | Fabian Hamilton MP, Shadow Minister for Peace & Disarmament | Peacebuilding in the Post-Covid World |  |
| 2019 | Richard Reeve, Co-ordinator, Rethinking Security | Rethinking Security: How Britain can think globally and act peacefully |  |
| 2018 | Caroline Lucas MP | Active remembrance and waging peace together |  |
| 2017 | Philip Jennings, General Director, UNI Global Union | Freedom from Fear: Unions for Peace |  |
| 2016 | Vickie Hawkins, Director, Médecins Sans Frontières | Humanity in the Midst of War |  |
| 2015 | Professor Paul Rogers, University of Bradford | Future Wars and How to Prevent Them |  |
| 2014 | Michael Morpurgo | Who Will Sing the Anthems? Who Will Tell the Stories? |  |
| 2013 | Alastair McIntosh | The Nonviolence Challenge: Changing the Culture of War |  |
| 2012 | Professor Mary Kaldor, London School of Economics | Old and New Wars | |
| 2011 | Professor Sir Richard Jolly, University of Sussex | Disarmament and Development: the Kindest Cut of All | |
| 2010 | Philippe Sands QC | War and Law: Iraq’s Legacy, Chilcot’s Challenges | |
| 2009 | Dr Mark Levene, Southampton University | Weapons of the Strong | |
| 2008 | Kathy Galloway, Iona Community | Hope in a Time of War: a Religious Perspective on Peacemaking | |
| 2007 | Baroness Helena Kennedy QC | Law not War | |
| 2006 | Baroness Shirley Williams | An End to War? | |
| 2005 | Martin Bell OBE | A Requiem for War |  |
| 2004 | Dr Caroline Lucas MEP | Building a Culture of Peace | |
| 2003 | Mairead Corrigan Maguire | War or Peace: Creating a New Culture for Children | |
| 2002 | Professor Joseph Rotblat | A World without War: Is it Desirable? Is it Feasible? |  |
| 2001 | Professor Paul Rogers, University of Bradford | Can We End War? | |
