Cambridge

Panel discussion with

Jane Ellison (Commissioning Editor, Radio 4, BBC),

Matthew Cock (Head of Web, British Museum),

Bill Thompson (Technology writer and Head of Partnership Development, BBC Archive Development) 

History on the Internet

Lunch hour Lectures - Autumn 2013

Professor Judith Stephenson, UCL Institute for Women's Health

Population growth, global health, economic development and climate change are some of the big challenges we face in the 21st century. This talk takes a historical look at how they are interconnected, and what that might mean for the future.

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul4alU7P4tU

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the world's top universities. Across all disciplines our faculties are known for their research-intensive approaches, academic excellence and engagement with global challenges. This is the basis of our world-renowned degree programmes. Visit us at http://ucl.ac.uk.

Global growth vs human health: finding the balance (15 Oct 2013)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Autumn 2013

Professor Sofia Olhede, UCL Statistical Science

Scientists try to understand apparent patterns and structures from data. This is complicated because patterns can be deceiving; we are apt to see structure in noise. Prof Olhede will talk about her research in building statistical models to understand data and how we can model phenomena in time and space.

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Uoc5wY7SI

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the world's top universities. Across all disciplines our faculties are known for their research-intensive approaches, academic excellence and engagement with global challenges. This is the basis of our world-renowned degree programmes. Visit us at http://ucl.ac.uk.

Patterns of nature (17 Oct 2013)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Autumn 2013

Professor Kate Jones, UCL Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research

Wild nature is declining rapidly as humans use more of the earth's resources and change climate patterns. Scientists studying the impact of humans on wildlife and ecosystems now have access to huge amounts of data about our changing environment thanks to new smartphone apps and other technology. The challenge now is how to analyse it!

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X0Vi7RyZLs

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the world's top universities. Across all disciplines our faculties are known for their research-intensive approaches, academic excellence and engagement with global challenges. This is the basis of our world-renowned degree programmes. Visit us at http://ucl.ac.uk.

Technology for Nature (24 Oct 2013)

Talk given by David Chalmers (ANU, NYU) at the Moral Sciences Club of the Faculty of Philosophy

Why isn't there more progress in philosophy?

Rowan Douglas Williams is an Anglican bishop, poet and theologian. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England, offices he held from December 2002 to December 2012. He was previously Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales, making him the first Archbishop of Canterbury in modern times not to be appointed from within the Church of England. He spent much of his earlier career as an academic at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford successively. Apart from Welsh, he speaks or reads nine other languages. In 2013, he was appointed Master of Magdalene College in Cambridge.

Rowan Williams: Possibilities of situations: body, language, and knowledge

We may ask two questions about foresight in relation to science: (1) whether science can foretell future events, and (2) whether we can foretell the future of science itself. Regarding the first question, many philosophers and scientists (including Lakatos and Popper) have especially valued the ability of science to make novel predictions, sometimes to the point of regarding it as the defining characteristic of science. I will argue that the acknowledged ability of modern science to make successful predictions is only as valuable as its ability to organise and explain previously known phenomena. Regarding the second question, I will argue that scientists and others have been very unsuccessful in predicting the course of the development of science itself. The uncertainty about the staying power of scientific theories, even predictively successful ones, actually raises a serious question about the value of predictive success. The final lesson from these reflections is one of humility: true foresight consists in recognising the limits of our foresight.

Biography

Hasok Chang is Hans Rausing Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. Previously he taught for 15 years at University College London, after receiving his PhD in Philosophy at Stanford University following an undergraduate degree at the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of Is Water H2O ? Evidence, Realism and Pluralism (Springer, 2012), and Inventing Temperature: Measurement and Scientific Progress (Oxford University Press, 2004), which was a joint winner of the 2006 Lakatos Award. He is also co-editor (with Catherine Jackson) of An Element of Controversy: The Life of Chlorine in Science, Medicine, Technology and War (British Society for the History of Science, 2007), a collection of original work by undergraduate students at University College London. He is a co-founder of the Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP), and the International Committee for Integrated History and Philosophy of Science. Currently he is the President of the British Society for this History of Science.

Foresight in Scientific Method

Aparecida Vilaça is currently Associate Professor in the Postgraduate
Program in Social Anthropology, Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do
Rio de Janeiro, and a researcher for the National Science Research
Council (CNPq). Since 1986 she has worked among the Wari' Indians of
Southwestern Amazonia, Brazil. Fieldwork has been financed by the Ford
Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research
(predoctoral grant and international collaborative grant), and Finep.
She was Professor Invité at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences
Sociales in Paris in 1999, Directeur d'Etudes Invité at the Ecole
Pratique des Hautes Etudes in the same city in 2000, Visiting Professor
of the Centre of Latin American Studies of the University of Cambridge
in 2001, and Visiting Scholar in the Department of Social Anthropology
at the same university in 2004. She is a visiting fellow at CRASSH
during Lent term this year.

Do Animists become Naturalists when Converting to Christianity? Discussing an Ontological Turn

In his first seminar of the series, Professor Kennel gives a brief history of the development of climate research; discuss the relationship between atmospheric abundance of CO2 and global temperature over time, and the fundamental truths about the long-term future.

CSaP's inaugural Visiting Research Fellow Professor Charlie F Kennel will deliver a series of seminars on adaptation to climate change, hosted by Christ's College Cambridge.

Professor Kennel is Vice-Chancellor and Director emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Christ’s College. He spent the 2014 Lent term as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge.

What can we expect from the climate and what might we do?

The Sigma secret society of NW Ghana is one of the very last institutions of its kind to be found in a vast region ranging from Southern Mali to Northern Ghana. My concern is with the way 'secret knowledge' is administered and communicated both in the initiation rituals and in the public performance of the masks at funerals. Following in the steps of Horkheimer and Adorno's 'Dialectic of Enlightenment' (1944) I am particularly interested in the way in which what appears prima facie as a form of 'enlightenment' and 'disclosure' works, in the last instance, towards the reinforcement of a conception of knowledge as intrinsically 'secret'.

Dr. Cesare Poppi - Sigma! Masks, Knowledge and Death in North West Ghana

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2014

Professor Dame Anne Johnson, UCL Infection and Population Health

The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) surveys over 15,000 men and women aged 16-74 who are resident in Britain, and is the largest and most detailed study of sexual lifestyles undertaken anywhere in the world. This lecture discusses the latest findings from Natsal-3 in the context of the importance of sexual health and well-being.

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtnS3Ar_GVM


Studying sex comes of age: results from NATSAL-3 (23 Jan 2014)

How do conspiracies happen, how can historians use them to understand more about the past, and where do they begin and cease to be relevant to the study of history? Such questions were the starting point for this panel debate, in which Professor Christopher Andrew and Dr Stephen Dorril examine cases from Stalinist Russia, Harold Wilson’s government in the 1960s, and Northern Ireland in the 1970s, to name but a few. - See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/history-and-conspiracy#sthash.UnAMoebB.dpuf

History and conspiracy

In his talk, Professor Kennel will discuss the reasons why we may not be able to avoid 2C warming by 2050, and adaptive management strategy.

This term, CSaP's inaugural Visiting Research Fellow Professor Charlie F Kennel will deliver a series of seminars on adaptation to climate change, hosted by Christ's College Cambridge.

Professor Kennel is Vice-Chancellor and Director emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Christ’s College. He will be spending the next three months as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Science and Policy.

Why and how we will have to adapt?

The gold rush of whole genome sequences spurred by the human genome project, is heralding a new way to study the previously unanswerable from pre-history; allowing us to now mine the genomic footprints of ancient defining events of humankind and other mammals. As early paleontologists conjured up extinct forms based on fossil remains, genetic archaeologists reconstruct the origins of genomic patterns derived from ancient demographic episodes. Modern scourges that clog the world’s hospitals represent a major challenge to human health and a historic selective regulator. Past interactions between constantly adapting pathogens and finely-tuned, ever-evolving immune defenses represent a biological puzzlement that is only beginning to be deciphered. In my presentation I will illustrate how we learn hidden lessons of survival, adaptation and genome evolution referred from current views of natural history with new insights from genomes of wildlife species and ourselves. I will provide an early glimpse of the coming discipline of genomic archaeology giving illustrative examples (from the plague, SARS , HIV -AIDS), and will describe how scientists track the emergence and progression of deadly outbreaks revealing unfathomed threats to their very existence. How these non-traditional approaches can ablate extinctions and unlock medical secrets will be the lessons learned from this presentation.

Biography

Dr. Stephen J. O’Brien is a world leading molecular biologist and dedicated conservationist whom uses the tools of molecular biology to help protect endangered species and understand devastating diseases such as cancer and AIDS . He received his PhD in Genetics from Cornell University, USA in 1971. He then joined the prestigious National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health as a post-doc in 1971 and there, served as Founder and Chief of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity from 1986-2011. In December 2011, he joined the Theodosius Dobzhansky Center for Genome Bioinformatics, St. Petersburg State University as Chief Scientific Officer. Convinced of the utility of exploring diverse species to advance our understanding of the human genome, Dr. O’Brien and his team have assembled over 62,000 animal and 424,000 human tissue/DNA specimens, facilitating wide-ranging studies of disease gene associations, species adaptation and natural history. His research interests and expertise span human and comparative genomics, genetic epidemiology, HIV /AIDS, retro-virology, bioinformatics biodiversity and species conservation. Dr. O’Brien is best known for documenting the remarkable genetic uniformity of African cheetahs, resolving the mammalian tree of life, describing heretofore unrecognized species of orangutans, African forest elephants and Bornean clouded leopards. He is credited with the discovery of CCR5 delta 32, the first of 20 human AIDS restriction genes, which imparts natural immunity to HIV . He is the one of the founders of the Genome 10K initiative, has published over 750 leading research papers, written multiple books and is adjunct professor in over 12 international leading universities. He is considered a ‘National Treasure’ by man

Plagues, Populations & Survival

This seminar looks at factors affecting rates of global and local sea level rise; how advanced regions are preparing - Venice, the Netherlands, and Sacramento Bay-Delta; vulnerable cities, agricultural river deltas, low-lying island nations. 

Sea Level Rise, Coastal Cities, and Wetlands

Lunch Hour Lecture - Autumn 2012

Dr Virginia Mantouvalou, UCL Laws

Is slavery confined to the past? Sadly not. Instances of grave labour exploitation exist in present-day Europe and elsewhere. This lecture will discuss abuses of labour conditions suffered by domestic workers, victims of trafficking and others. It will explain why their situation is akin to slavery, and will set out the steps that have been taken in law to protect the human rights of these workers.

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the world's top universities. Across all disciplines our faculties are known for their research-intensive approaches, academic excellence and engagement with global challenges. This is the basis of our world-renowned degree programmes. Visit us at www.ucl.ac.uk.

What is modern slavery? (30 Oct 2012)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2013

Prof Muki Haklay, Professor of GIScience Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) research group, UCL Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering

Public participation in scientific research is not new. Many people are involved in scientific activities in their free time, from bird watching to weather or astronomical observations. Moreover, trends in education and technology are ushering in a new era of citizen science. The lecture covers the history of citizen science, explore the current trends and demonstrate a model for extreme citizen science, in which any community, regardless of their literacy, can utilise scientific methods and tools to understand and control their environment.

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UCL is consistently ranked as one of the world's top universities. Across all disciplines our faculties are known for their research-intensive approaches, academic excellence and engagement with global challenges. This is the basis of our world-renowned degree programmes. Visit us at ucl.ac.uk.

Science for everyone by everyone - the re-emergence of citizen science (22 Jan 2013)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2013

Dr Christian Boehmer, Lecturer, UCL MAPS

Within theoretical physics the gravitational force is the odd one out. It is much weaker than the other forces, its mathematical formulation is different and we are struggling to understand it. In this talk Dr Boehmer outlines a new approach to understanding the gravitational force which is motivated by ideas from material sciences and in particular the study of crystals.

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the world's top universities. Across all disciplines our faculties are known for their research-intensive approaches, academic excellence and engagement with global challenges. This is the basis of our world-renowned degree programmes. Visit us at ucl.ac.uk.

Gravity and continuum (5 Feb 2013)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2013

Dr Matt Piper, UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing

It has been known for some time that moderate dietary restriction can extend healthy lifespan in a variety of organisms. By experimenting on fruit flies, we are uncovering that only very small changes in specific nutrients are required for this effect. Importantly, these effects appear to be evolutionarily conserved, meaning these new discoveries could be applied to benefit human ageing.

Listen to more Lunch Hour Lectures from this series in our set:
https://soundcloud.com/uclsound/sets/lunch-hour-lectures-spring-2013

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the world's top universities. Across all disciplines our faculties are known for their research-intensive approaches, academic excellence and engagement with global challenges. This is the basis of our world-renowned degree programmes. Visit us at ucl.ac.uk.

A diet to treat ageing (21 Feb 2013)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2013

Prof Aroon HIngorani, Director, UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science

Greater understanding of how genetic differences influence disease susceptibility and drug response has potentially important healthcare applications. This lecture, marking Heart Awareness Month, will focus on some of the opportunities and challenges of using genomic information to improve personal and public health, using cardiovascular disease as an example.

Listen to more Lunch Hour Lectures from this series:
https://soundcloud.com/uclsound/sets/lunch-hour-lectures-spring-2013

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the world's top universities. Across all disciplines our faculties are known for their research-intensive approaches, academic excellence and engagement with global challenges. This is the basis of our world-renowned degree programmes. Visit us at ucl.ac.uk.

Cambridge

Mexkille