The McCosh Lecture 2026

'Power, Love, and a Sound Mind: Finding Hope in the Climate Crisis'.

Delivered by: Professor Katharine Hayhoe

Most people around the world are worried about climate change, yet few are doing anything about it. Why the gap? Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe argues that the answer lies not in more data, but in the terrain mapped out by James McCosh more than a century ago: the meeting place of science, faith, and the human mind. Drawing on McCosh's legacy, Hayhoe connects climate science and Christian belief with the latest findings from psychology and neuroscience. The result is an unlikely convergence: it turns out that what the apostle Paul called a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind is exactly what today's research tells us is needed to turn worry into action, and despair into hope.

Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist who studies climate change, one of the most pressing issues facing humanity today. But Katharine may be best-known to many because of how she's bridging the gap between scientists and people of faith, work she does primarily because she's a Christian herself. In recognition of these efforts, she has received a number of awards and recognitions, including being named a United Nations Champion of the Earth and one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People.

Katharine is a Horn Distinguished Professor and the Political Science Endowed Professor in Public Policy and Public Law at Texas Tech University. She holds a B.Sc. in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Toronto, an M.S. and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Illinois, and has been awarded four honorary doctorates. Katharine is the author of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, her TED has over 4 million views, and her weekly newsletter, Talking Climate, reaches more than 180,000 subscribers in over 150 countries.

Register here - Eventbrite - The McCosh Lecture

About the McCosh Lecture at Queen’s University Belfast

This Lecture, originally the Annual Religious Studies Lecture, is named in honour of James McCosh (1811-1894) who was appointed to the Chair of Logic and Metaphysics at Queen’s University in 1850 shortly after the establishment of the University. In 1868 he left Ireland to become President of Princeton University. His sphere of influence was extensive, not only as a leading moral philosopher and educationalist, but as a pioneer of modern psychology and as a prominent advocate for the reconciliation of evolution and religion.

Reflecting McCosh’s wide interests, the Lecture, delivered annually at QUB since 2011, is in the field of Religious Studies broadly conceived. Previous lecturers have included climate scientist Mike Hulme (Tyndall Centre for Climate Change, University of East Anglia), Mona Siddiqui, professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies (University of Edinburgh), the American novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson, and former British Academy Vice President Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch and former British Academy President Baroness Onora O’Neill.

Image credit: James McCosh, ca. 1870s. Box AD013, Historical Photograph Collection, Individuals Series, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University; published by Princeton University Archives.