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A PUB in the city centre has joined up with boozers all over Europe to continue their pub night tradition online.
Oxford Skeptics used to be held at St Aldates Tavern, where the public were invited to ‘think and drink’.
The sceptic night is intended for those interested in science, reason, and critical thinking to discuss a range of topics from physics, coronavirus misconceptions and discredited far-right conspiracy theories such as QAnon.
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At these event’s talks would be given by scientists or prominent sceptics would speak for 45 minutes, followed by a discussion.
When the pandemic hit lockdown restrictions caused pubs across the nation to close, but the group were keen to keep their sceptical conversations going and let people socialise online despite not being able to meet in person.
The group teamed up with sceptic groups from across the UK as well as some groups in Germany to create ‘Skeptics in the Pub Online’.
Every Thursday, the group hosts live talks by scientists and sceptics and stream the discussions online.
The events are free, however, there is a link for individuals to donate to the talk.
Oxford Skeptics has been running at St Aldates Tavern for over 10 years.
Jo Selwood, who coordinates the Oxford Skeptics group, said: “We try and pick topics that inform and entertain.
“We promote science, reason, and critical thinking, tend to way a bit more towards sciencey-type topics.”
When the pandemic hit Ms Selwood and her fellow team mates wanted to keep the conversations going.
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She said: “The social aspect of Skeptics in the Pub is very important
“We have a zoom ‘virtual pub’ after our live event where people can hang out and chat and just socialise and chat about anything which we also ran on Christmas and new year because people might be alone.
“We try to make a consistent effort to keep the pub aspect going as well as the information part of the evening, as we know how important both aspects are.”
The events usually get around 250 viewers every Thursday, but during the most popular event, where British physicist Jim Al-Khalili spoke, over 700 people joined.
