Welcome to website of The Literary and Scientific Society (Literific) – the debating society at Queen’s University Belfast.

The Society aims to promote the skills of debate and public speaking throughout the University and beyond.  The Literific hosts weekly debates throughout the year on a variety of topics. Each debate has between 6-8 speakers and the audience is welcome to contribute to points of information and ask questions at the end. We also host a number of other events throughout the year, such as our LitTalk series and Great Debates.

This website contains both written and recorded minutes of each debate, as well as a link to an audio livestream. The majority of our announcements will be made via the Society’s Facebook and Instagram pages, and debates are often accompanied by live commentary on Twitter. This website also details the history of The Literific, and includes a link to The Archives – a treasure trove of mementos from years gone by.

Thank you for visiting, and we hope to see you during term time at 7pm, Thursday evenings at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Keep up to date with the literific via our instagram account:

📍 McMordie Hall, School of Music, QUB "This really shows you that debating isn't for the elite or the top of your class, it's something that anybody can do and it's accessible to all". 📍 Senate Room, QUB Lanyon Building Thank you to all our speakers and everyone who joined us on Thursday for the 23rd ordinary meeting of the 175th Session: This House Would Elect The House of Lords. 📍 Senate Room, QUB Lanyon Building Thank you to everyone who attended and spoke at our joint debate with @uusudebatesociety for the motion "This House Would Go To Ulster University". A massive thank you to Matthew Bryson HLM, former Internal Convenor and Treasurer, for delivering a workshop to our members yesterday evening on British Parliamentary debating. And that's a wrap on the School's Competition of the 175th Session! Thank you to all our speakers and everyone who joined us on Thursday for the 21st ordinary meeting of the 175th Session: This House Believes We Are Not Alone In The Universe.