A celebrated series of university lectures has become the latest nomination in the 2008 Medway Culture and Design Awards.

This year sees the tenth anniversary of the launch of the Pembroke Lectures – four to six lectures a year focussing on a wide range of topics of local interest.

Over the ten years the free-admission events have attracted some 3,500 attendees. Subjects covered include the history of the Royal Engineers in Medway, Medway’s multi-billion pound regeneration programme and Chatham Dockyard’s role in maintaining one of the greatest navies the world has seen.

The next lecture, on June 4, examines the work of the RSPB in north Kent.

It will be held at the lectures’ traditional venue: the former Royal Navy Wardroom in the historic Pembroke building on the Medway campus of the University of Greenwich.

Regularly attracting audiences of more than 200, the lectures have been nominated by Professor Alan Reed, Director of Regional Development at the University of Greenwich.

Prof Reed, who has given some of the lectures, said: “The University of Greenwich was the first to establish a presence in Medway when, in 1996, is started to redevelop the site of the former HMS Pembroke at Chatham Maritime.

“The decision was made to provide a number of vehicles by which Medway residents could benefit from the presence of the university – their university. The Pembroke Lectures are one such vehicle.

“It is contended that the lecture series is innovative, accessible, makes a significant contribution to the cultural offer available to residents in Medway and supports Medway’s aspiration to become an acknowledged centre for culture.”