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Running at UCL since 1942, Lunch Hour Lectures are an opportunity for anyone to sample the exceptional research work currently being undertaken at the university. Speakers are drawn from UCL's wide-ranging academic departments and lectures frequently showcase new research and recent academic publications.


Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2014

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documentary

general lecture

A live panel discussion at UCL, 10 March, 2014
Video: http://youtu.be/mBqgLK9dTk4

There are just 85 black professors out of 18,510 in the UK and the number has barely changed in eight years. The percent of black professors (0.4%) shows a striking disparity with the proportion of black students, which has increased steadily each year and now stands at 6%.

What does it mean when the generation that produces knowledge is so unrepresentative of the generation that consumes it? This panel debate will be chaired by Professor Michael Arthur, UCL President and Provost. It will aim to ask difficult questions and explore even more challenging solutions.

Speakers:
Chair: Professor Michael Arthur, UCL President and Provost
Nathan E. Richards, freelance digital journalist, doctoral researcher at Goldsmiths University and director of 'Absent from the Academy'
Dr William Ackah, Birkbeck, University of London
Dr Lisa Amanda Palmer, Newman University
Dr Shirley Tate, University of Leeds
Dr Nathaniel Adam Tobias C̶o̶l̶e̶m̶a̶n̶, UCL
Deborah Gabriel, Founder and CEO of Black British Academics

Further info:
http://events.ucl.ac.uk/event/event:xe-hobmesz1-pt3gqx/why-isnt-my-professor-black

Why isn't my professor black? UCL panel discussion

On Bishop George Berkeley’s Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (1713).

While only a goon would deny the real existence of things like tables and chairs, does “real” existence have to mean existence as matter, i.e. as something that could exist in the absence of any mind to think about it? Berkeley says no! Tables and chairs are ideas! But not just my ideas, or yours, as they obviously don’t disappear when we leave the room, and certainly trees and the like were around before people. So they’re God’s ideas! And hey, this chain of reasoning actually provides a proof for God’s existence! Sweet!

Wes tries to convince Mark and Dylan that this is actually compelling, well argued, and motivated by deep philosophical concerns that were historically central and still relevant today.

Go to blog

Berkeley on Ideas - Partially Examined Life

What You Need (Prod. By Jay Curry)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2014

Professor Laura Vaughan, UCL Bartlett School of Graduate Studies

Is the death of the high street inevitable? Prof Vaughan describes her research using historical, geographical and spatial analysis of suburban centres. The results tell us how land use diversity and road connectivity have helped the high street adapt to significant social and economic change.

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJEQ2Ta38_o


Butcher, baker, candlestick-maker (11 Feb 2014)

Continuing discussion of David Brin’s novel Existence (without him) and adding Nick Bostrom’s essay “Why I Want to Be a Posthuman When I Grow Up” (2006).

Are our present human capabilities sufficient for meeting the challenges our civilization will face? Should we devote our technology to artificially enhancing our abilities, or would that be a crime against nature, a God-play that would probably lead to disaster? Is thinking about this issue a juvenile waste of time?

Mark, Seth, Dylan, and Brian Casey are rejoined by Wes to reflect on ep. 90′s discussion with David Brin and figure out how his project is related to transhumanism. While you’ll get a more thorough introduction to transhumanism from Rationally Speaking or many other web sources, we did confront Bostrom’s argument that extending our lives and enhancing our IQ and emotional range would be good, and human-all-too-human fun was had.

Transhumanism and Response to Brin - Partially Examined Life

'Memorandoms' of James Martin, the only extant first-hand account of perhaps the most famous escape by convicts transported to Australia

Website:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/publications/martins-memorandoms/martins-memorandoms.html

About Dr Tim Causer (UCL Bentham Project):
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/about/staff/causer

Voice of James Martin: Matt Kyle
Australian narrator: Travis Edwards
Director: Rob Eagle
Researcher: Jack Dean
Sound recording: Ben Stevens​

Further info
The most well-known escape of prisoners transported from England to Australia in the 18th Century has been brought to life, thanks to handwritten accounts by the convicts unearthed in the collections of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham at UCL and now published online for the first time.

The Memorandoms of the convict James Martin are the only first-hand account of the famous escape, which has been the subject of a number of books and a television drama. The document is written in three different hands, potentially of three of the convicts involved, and recounts their fascinating -- and, ultimately, tragic -- tale in full.

Escape from Australia: a convict's tale

Crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw has talked to or interviewed virtually every writer in the Nordic Noir field for various newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, as well as for his book on Scandinavian Crime Fiction, Death in a Cold Climate. 

He has a fund of insights (and anecdotes) about the authors and their work, and is equally au fait with the work of the publishers and translators who are helping to make the field the hottest in the entire crime fiction genre. 

If you're an aficionado of Nordic Noir, you have something to learn from Barry! Chaired by Dr Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (UCL Scandinavian Studies).

Nordic Noir Book Club blog:
www.scancrime.wordpress.com


Nordic Noir: Crime in Translation with Barry Forshaw

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2014

Professor Maxine Molyneux, UCL Institute of the Americas

Among the eight Millennium Development Goals were women's empowerment and gender equity. This lecture, marking International Women's Day, focuses on the Latin American region, assessing the progress that has been made, and the obstacles that women still face in achieving greater equality and justice, sexual and reproductive rights and measures to tackle violence against women.

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2k8LFxb8nQ



Gender equality and women's rights in Latin America (6 Mar 2014)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2014

Dr Maryam Shahmanesh, UCL Infection and Population Health

What can female sex workers in India teach us about the structural drivers of the HIV epidemic? This talk explores how underlying social and political factors contribute to female sex workers vulnerability to HIV and poor sexual health outcomes.

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F43ebh6Mbf8

A tale of two cities: sex work in India (4 Mar 2014)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2014

Dr Jack Stilgoe, UCL Science and Technology Studies

Policies to tackle climate change do not seem to be working. Some scientists have begun to look into tacking climate change directly, through 'geoengineering', but the risks, ethics and politics look worrying. Should we be testing technologies now or keeping research indoors until we know more?

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o2DqvjQKpc

Should we experiment with the climate? (11 Mar 2014)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2014

Dr Antonio Sennis, UCL History

Divine letters, supernatural visions and apocalyptic curses were often successfully employed by medieval clerics to persuade their counterparts to do what they wanted them to do. This lecture explores how these tools of persuasion responded to a Medieval cultural logic.

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWZJ_z2aW8Q

Medieval languages of persuasion (13 March 2014)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2014

Professor Lars Stixrude, UCL Earth Sciences

To the founders of geology, the question of how the Earth began could not be addressed by science; answers had to await recent advances in radioactive dating, planetary accretion, and materials physics. The Earth appears to have begun in a completely molten state, a magma ocean, the nature of which, while still sketchy, is remarkably rich in its implications for understanding our planet today.

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VybMqy0qbbk


How did Earth begin? (18 Mar 2014)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2014

Professor Christian Dustmann, UCL Economics

New research has shown the beneficial impact that immigration has on the UK economy. However, the beliefs people hold about immigration are not necessarily formed on the basis of economic considerations, but on other non-economic concerns and fears. Prof Dustmann reports on his research that quantifies the magnitude of these two channels.

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Ex4RV4gc4


The impact of immigration: fact or fiction? (20 Mar 2014)

Lunch Hour Lectures - Spring 2014

Professor Angela Sasse, UCL Computer Science

Passwords have been used for around 40 years to authenticate people to computer systems, and nowadays on phones and touchscreen devices. This lecture will explain why most people today struggle with them, and why, contrary to received security wisdom, strong passwords do not necessarily mean good security for stakeholders and organisations. What might be the likely replacement? 

You can also watch this lecture on the UCLLHL YouTube channel at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xg7mqWF4M8


The end of passwords (25 Mar 2014)

Buy on iTunes: http://smarturl.it/InterceptorLP
Buy on Beatport: http://btprt.dj/UFYOTI
Buy on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1oeYs1H

Watch the official music video here: https://youtu.be/hugowO0sSrM

Listening to the music of Mitch Murder is something that warrants you’re full attention. You don’t simultaneously wash your dishes or hang out with friends, NO! You close your eyes or you find somewhere with fresh air and a view to allow yourself to aurally experience the infinite landscapes and scenarios that Mitch presents to your eardrums. If you were born around the early 80’s, you're instantly hit with nostalgia with the smells and emotions of your childhood, but that’s just the start. One minute you may find yourself coming up on an enemies hideout with Mr.T and the rest of the A*team, the next minute you'll be speeding away on a stolen top-secret motorcycle with a microchip in your pocket. Soon enough the dark of the night vanishes as you land face first on the sands of Venice Beach, 1984. As far as the eye can see there's bikini babes, freestyle skateboarding, remote control cars and a new dance called break-dancing. 

The b-boys popping moves create an atmospheric breakdown of all reality and suddenly you're thrusted into an 8-bit nintendo world and your arm has been rigged with a plasma blaster. Good thing you have your faithful robotic dog by your side. As the album concludes, the feels are endless as you round the last base and finally touch home plate to win the tournament in the 9th inning. Life slows to a halt as you see your crush in the stands. Your eyes lock, and before you know it you’ve spent hours that felt like minutes walking on the beach together and watching the sun set. As she tells you stories about her favorite music, her deadbeat dad and how you should run away together, the alarm on your calculator watch suddenly goes off. You glance down at your wrist and she and the world around her disappears, the ring of the watch morphs into the sound of your buzzing alarm clock flashing 8:00AM. It was all a dream… that is until the next time you listen to Mitch Murder’s “Interceptor”.

Mitch Murder
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/daataa
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/mitch-murder/304065434705
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/mitch_murder

Interceptor

Buy on iTunes

Mitch Murder - Interceptor

Inception-Time (remix)

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