Workshop - The Science of Life-Long Learning And Re-Education of The Self: Dr Roger Griffith MBE

3.50pm – 4.50pm GMT, 24 March 2026 ‐ 1 hour

Room: Fintry - located on level +3

Workshop

This lecture explores the essential elements for transformative, life-long learning, grounded in cognitive science and social experience. It draws upon the lecturer's personal journey, expanding from his 2023 TEDx Talk, The Re-Education of Roger Griffith. After leaving school at fifteen without qualifications, he became a lecturer at fifty utilising his lived experience
The talk posits that the "Science of Life-Long Learning" moves beyond academia and is a deliberate attitudinal, emotional, and social-cognitive process. The presentation focuses on three core, interconnected elements.
The Mindset, acts as the attitudinal foundation. Examining the science of Neuroplasticity, demonstrating that the brain constantly re-wires itself and that learning is not defined by early educational setbacks. This tackles limiting beliefs, that negative feedback can be overcome. For those facing social or educational barriers, embracing this mindset is a belief in one's potential for reinvention.
Second is Motivation, the fuel. Moving beyond external pressures, true self-directed learning is sustained by autonomy toward a higher purpose or personal goal. This is in connection to community impact (social case), equality and fairness (legal case) or financial motivation (business case). This increases the staying power required to navigate setbacks.
Finally, Making It Count is the practical application of the knowledge retention and transfer to others. Specifically, the retrieval practice and elaboration utilising transferable skills to new arenas, turning life experience into expert knowledge.
Collectively, this forms a continuous loop of beliefs, values and goals delivering results that prove re-education can be personally and professionally rewarding, impacting community and benefiting students.