Some of the best and brightest Humanist minds will explore “The Meaning of Life” over the weekend of June 17 to 19, as part of the British Humanist Association 2011 conference.

A. C. Grayling, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) representative to the UN Human Rights Council, has been appointed the new president of the British Humanist Association (BHA). A renowned philosopher, broadcaster and author, Anthony Grayling is the first academic philosopher to hold the office since A J Ayer in the 1960s. Grayling succeeds journalist, broadcaster, and social justice campaigner Polly Toynbee to take up the position from July 2011 and will serve a two-year term as the Association’s eleventh president.

Anthony Grayling is professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, London. He is best known as a writer and broadcaster and a staunch defender of Enlightenment values.  He recently joined the IHEU team at the United Nations in Geneva where he has addressed the plenary of the UN Human Rights Council. International Humanist News interviewed him in London.