Public Lectures

University of Bath Vice-Chancellor, Professor Phil Taylor, introduces the State of Disappearance exhibition.

State of Disappearance introduction (Vice-Chancellor, Professor Phil Taylor)

'Internet of Things' technologies have emerged over recent years as enabling technologies for life-long healthcare. Increasingly these technologies are seen as moving health from the hospital to the home, whilst at the same time shifting responsibility for health from the clinician to Computer Scientists and Engineers. The 27th Designability Annual Lecture, 'Data Scientist - heal thyself', explored the possible scenarios with this vision for data-led personalised medicine.

Data scientist - heal thyself

We think of time travel as fiction, but there is nothing in the laws of physics that prevents us building a time machine. What's more, relativity provides practical opportunities to travel through time. Listen back to Brian Clegg, author of 'Dice World, Gravity, A Brief History of Infinity, Inflight Science and Build Your Own Time Machine', talking about the potential solutions to time travel from our recent public lecture.

How to build a time machine

This lecture from Dr Lynette Goddard (Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London) focuses on the tradition of the Caribbean yard play to examine how the organisation of stage space relates to the experiences of the characters.

Stage space and characterisation in Caribbean yard plays

Pain is a major health care problem worldwide. It affects the well-being of millions of individuals, and its financial burden upon our societies is considerable. Pain is not a simple reflection of the degree of tissue-damage, it is strongly influenced by expectations and beliefs individuals hold about pain and their ability to cope with it. In this lecture, Dr Katja Wiech from the Centre for Pain Research, talks about research into how expectations can influence the outcome of pain treatment.

What you get is what you expect

Are trends in global politics simply the result of large impersonal structural forces, or does human agency matter? For example, would America have become the dominant country in the 20th century regardless of who was president? To what extent did leaders matter, and if so, what kind of leader? Leadership theorists focus their attention on what they call transformational leaders, but were "transformational" leaders like Woodrow Wilson and Ronald Reagan really more important than "transactional" leaders like Eisenhower and the first Bush? What are the lessons we can draw for leadership and foreign policy in this century?"

Presidents & American foreign policy

With Professor Ian Goldin, University of Oxford from 9 May 2018

The talk identifies the drivers of global growth, showing why emerging markets are likely to continue to grow at high levels for the coming decades, with particularly rapid growth in Asia. Rising life expectancy and collapsing fertility around the world has dramatic consequences for pensions, retirement, dependency and employment patterns. Meanwhile, advances in artificial intelligence and robotics is transforming the nature of work and has the potential to replace significant numbers of jobs and widen inequality.

http://www.bath.ac.uk/events/gerald-walters-memorial-lecture-renaissance-2-0-the-disruptive-changes-shaping-our-world/

Gerald Walters Memorial Lecture - Renaissance 2.0: The Disruptive Changes Shaping Our World

A recording of the lecture from 13 June 2018, which overviews the tremendous contribution of Professor Darryl Almond to the research profile of the University of Bath. 

Darryl had a unique ability to use his expertise in physics to undertake cutting edge research across a range of subjects in science and engineering.

A Life Connected by Physics: A Tribute to Professor Darryl Almond

Additive manufacturing allows us to produce parts at a reduced size and weight. For amputees, this means we can create powered prosthetics that are both durable and a more comfortable fit. Working alongside Moog and Blatchford we set out to bring our powered prosthetics research to the commercial market. Professor Andrew Plummer discusses how this could be game-changing for the prosthetics industry.

Transcript:
"Imagine you got ill, maybe diabetes or had an accident and had to have a leg amputated. In days gone by, you could get a wooden leg, but that wasn't a great substitute particularly for above the knee amputees. Nowadays you might get a leg made from carbon fibre or light alloys, and subtly designed joints incorporating springs and shock absorbers to give a fairly natural and pleasant walking experience. They might even be computer-controlled. But you'll still be a long way from the league of a bionic man or bionic woman. Walking up slopes or stairs will still be slow and tiring because your new leg will have no muscle power. Your trailing leg really needs to push off every time it leaves the ground to propel you up and along, but building in muscle power into prosthetic legs is a formidable engineering challenge. Using existing technology, the leg ends up being too bulky, too heavy or using too much energy, not to mention the challenge of controlling the leg to automatically synchronise with your movements. I'm Andrew Plummer, Professor in the mechanical engineering department, so I lead the Power Transmission Motion Control research centre here at Bath and we have considerable experience in hydraulic actuation, this provides very high-power density by using pressurised oil, which means we can generate significant muscle power in a light and compact leg. And using additive manufacture we can further integrate these powerful hydraulic actuation components into incredibly light titanium prosthetic joints. At Bath we have been fortunate in having world-leading industrial partners. We were working with Moog and Renishaw on additive manufacture for hydraulic components and independently with Blatchford on smart powered prosthetics. Bringing the two strands of work together was, as they say, 'a no brainer'. I'm convinced this is a game-changer for future prosthetics technology."

Professor Andrew Plummer discusses additive manufacturing's potential for the prosthetics industry

In this talk, Professor Mott from the Faculty of Engineering and Design, debates the impact that COVID is having on engineering and technology businesses and how they need to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances.

Professor Peter Mott talk: Covid-19 and its impact on industry

The University of Bath podcasts are a series of public lectures available to download for free.

Enhance your understanding of subjects ranging from how babies develop to the workings of the universe. Learn from academics and business and industry experts.

The University of Bath is a leading UK insitution. We offer a distinctive blend of research-led teaching, an outstanding graduate employment record and personal development opportunties.

Presidents & American foreign policy

University of Bath

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