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Social programme: Fellows' research weekend going 'Back to the Future'

An opportunity for Fellows to meet and socialise whilst discovering and sharing science. Hosted by Dame Angela McLean and Professor Jonathan Keating.

  • 27 - 28 October 2018, 12:30 - 13:30
Add to Calendar 10/27/18 12:30 PM 10/28/18 01:30 PM United Kingdom (GMT) Social programme: Fellows' research weekend going 'Back to the Future' <p>An opportunity for Fellows to meet and socialise whilst discovering and sharing science.</p> Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, MK16 9JJ
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Overview

An opportunity for Fellows to meet and socialise whilst discovering and sharing science. Hosted by Dame Angela McLean and Professor Jonathan Keating.

Research weekends at Chicheley Hall are part of the Fellows' social programme. These relaxed weekends allow you and your guests to socialise and take part in informal discussions and talks on a range of scientific topics.

Dame Angela McLean and Professor Jonathan Keating hosted the Fellows' Research Weekend on 27-28 October 2018. Each day featured a series of relaxed talks and lively discussion at Chicheley Hall.

The next Fellows' Research Weekend will be on 9-10 March 2019. For more information, please contact the Scientific Programmes team on fellowship@royalsociety.org.

Chicheley Hall

Organisers

Professor Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS, Professor of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford and Co-Chair, Data Theme Community Group of Interest, Royal Society

Professor Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS, Professor of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford and Co-Chair, Data Theme Community Group of Interest, Royal Society

Angela McLean is a mathematical biologist at Oxford University where she is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College and Professor of Mathematical Biology in the Zoology Department. Her research interests concern understanding how fast infections spread, both within individuals and between individuals.  In addition to her own academic work she has played a sustained role in advising government on the use of scientific evidence in making good policies.  At the Royal Society she Co-Chairs the Data Community of Interest and Chairs the steering group for the series of public lectures on artificial intelligence, You and AI.

Professor Jon Keating FRS, University of Bristol, UK

Professor Jon Keating FRS, University of Bristol, UK

Jon Keating is based at the University of Bristol. He gained his first degree from Oxford University and his PhD from the University of Bristol, under the supervision of Professor Sir Michael Berry FRS. His research is centred in the areas of quantum chaos, random matrix theory and number theory. He has held a BRIMS Research Fellowship, funded by Hewlett-Packard, and an EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship.

Schedule

12:30-13:30
Lunch and registration
13:30-17:35
Session 1
5 talks
13:30-13:45
Welcome by hosts

Speakers

Professor Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS, Professor of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford and Co-Chair, Data Theme Community Group of Interest, Royal Society

Professor Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS, Professor of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford and Co-Chair, Data Theme Community Group of Interest, Royal Society

Angela McLean is a mathematical biologist at Oxford University where she is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College and Professor of Mathematical Biology in the Zoology Department. Her research interests concern understanding how fast infections spread, both within individuals and between individuals.  In addition to her own academic work she has played a sustained role in advising government on the use of scientific evidence in making good policies.  At the Royal Society she Co-Chairs the Data Community of Interest and Chairs the steering group for the series of public lectures on artificial intelligence, You and AI.

Professor Jon Keating FRS, University of Bristol, UK

Professor Jon Keating FRS, University of Bristol, UK

Jon Keating is based at the University of Bristol. He gained his first degree from Oxford University and his PhD from the University of Bristol, under the supervision of Professor Sir Michael Berry FRS. His research is centred in the areas of quantum chaos, random matrix theory and number theory. He has held a BRIMS Research Fellowship, funded by Hewlett-Packard, and an EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship.

13:45-14:35
Carbon cycling under climate change

Abstract

The natural carbon cycle is closely intertwined with the Earth’s climate. I will show the dynamic response of the natural carbon reservoirs on land and in the ocean to growing emissions of CO2 and associated climate change. I will then explore anticipated changes this century under two extreme but plausible scenarios: one of an unmitigated changing climate exceeding 3 degrees Celsius warming, and one of a rapid reduction in global CO2 emissions reaching net zero emissions. Both scenarios have tremendous consequences for the natural carbon cycle and its capacity to sequester carbon. I will also present some thoughts on how to step up the interactions among scientists, policymaker, and society in the face of extreme environmental devastation, in order to move from the current stand still situation towards the achievement of global environmental sustainability.

Speakers

Professor Corinne Le Quéré CBE FRS, University of East Anglia, UK

Professor Corinne Le Quéré CBE FRS, University of East Anglia, UK

Professor Corinne Le Quéré FRS CBE, is Royal Society Research Professor at the University of East Anglia, where she conducts research on the interactions between the carbon cycle and climate change, particularly those mediated by the world’s oceans. She leads two projects in the NERC’s programme on the Role of the Southern Ocean in the Earth System (RoSES), one examining Southern Ocean CO2 variability in recent decades, one exploring its evolution this century. More broadly, she spearheaded the development of marine carbon-cycle models with new ways to represent plankton diversity and ecology. She also led for over a decade the annual update of the ‘global carbon budget’, an international effort to keep track of global carbon emissions and their fate in the environment, and authored three assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

14:35-15:25
Solar energy and materials for a low carbon future

Speakers

Professor Jenny Nelson FRS, Imperial College London, UK

Professor Jenny Nelson FRS, Imperial College London, UK

Jenny Nelson is a Professor of Physics at Imperial College London, where she has researched novel varieties of material for use in solar cells since 1989. Her current research is focussed on understanding the properties of molecular and hybrid semiconductor materials and their application to solar energy conversion. She also works with the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial to explore the mitigation potential of renewable energy technologies. She is an ISI Highly Cited Researcher in Materials Science and has published over 250 articles and a book on the physics of solar cells. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014.

15:25-15:55
Tea break
15:55-16:45
New materials for a new age

Abstract

Historically, every era of human civilization, from the Stone Age, through the Bronze and Iron Ages, has been defined by the material that dominated the time. The forthcoming end of today's Silicon Age, in which aspects of society as diverse as commerce, transportation and communication are underpinned by silicon–based microelectronic devices, offers therefore a unique opportunity – defining the future of civilization – and challenge – how to maintain and improve our modern way of life – to materials scientists. I will discuss how new materials are essential for addressing many of the world's most urgent problems, and present my favourite candidates –the multiferroics – for enabling beyond-silicon technologies.

Speakers

Professor Nicola Spaldin FRS, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Professor Nicola Spaldin FRS, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Nicola Spaldin is Professor and Chair of Materials Theory at the ETH Zurich. Research in her group combines first-principles and phenomenological theoretical techniques to study the fundamental physics of novel strongly correlated materials with contraindicated co-existing functionalities.  Her current scientific hobbies include using magnetoelectrics to explore basic questions in high energy physics and cosmology, and building a facility for float zone growth of oxide single crystals.  When not in the lab. she is usually climbing or skiing in the Alps or playing Chamber Music. 

16:45-17:35
Space exploration at Saturn and Jupiter

Abstract

Planetary exploration requires patience. Often missions take 30 years to progress from initial concept through to data acquisition. Scientific discoveries made by the Cassini-Huygens NASA-ESA mission at Saturn will be described including the discovery of a plume of water vapour emanating from the small moon Enceladus and the very axisymmetic planetary magnetic field of Saturn. The scientific focus of the large ESA planetary mission, JUICE, to Jupiter and its moons which is due for launch in 2022, with arrival at Jupiter in 2030, will be detailed with a focus on potential habitability of the moons.

Speakers

Professor Michele Dougherty CBE FRS, Imperial College London, UK

Professor Michele Dougherty CBE FRS, Imperial College London, UK

Professor Michele Dougherty FRS is Professor of Space Physics at Imperial College London. She is the Principal Investigator of the magnetic field instruments on board the NASA/ESA Cassini-Huygens mission (which is in orbit around the Saturn system) and the ESA JUICE mission (to Jupiter and one of its moons, Ganymede) which will be launched in 2022. She was awarded the 2007 Institute of Physics Chree medal and the 2008 Royal Society Hughes medal for leadership on the Cassini mission and the discovery of a dynamic atmosphere at one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus. She is presently Chair of the UK Space Agency’s Science Programme Advisory Committee.

17:35-18:50
Free time
18:50-19:30
Drinks reception
19:30-22:00
Dinner
10:00-12:15
Session 2
4 talks
10:00-10:15
Welcome by hosts

Speakers

Professor Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS, Professor of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford and Co-Chair, Data Theme Community Group of Interest, Royal Society

Professor Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS, Professor of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford and Co-Chair, Data Theme Community Group of Interest, Royal Society

Angela McLean is a mathematical biologist at Oxford University where she is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College and Professor of Mathematical Biology in the Zoology Department. Her research interests concern understanding how fast infections spread, both within individuals and between individuals.  In addition to her own academic work she has played a sustained role in advising government on the use of scientific evidence in making good policies.  At the Royal Society she Co-Chairs the Data Community of Interest and Chairs the steering group for the series of public lectures on artificial intelligence, You and AI.

Professor Jon Keating FRS, University of Bristol, UK

Professor Jon Keating FRS, University of Bristol, UK

Jon Keating is based at the University of Bristol. He gained his first degree from Oxford University and his PhD from the University of Bristol, under the supervision of Professor Sir Michael Berry FRS. His research is centred in the areas of quantum chaos, random matrix theory and number theory. He has held a BRIMS Research Fellowship, funded by Hewlett-Packard, and an EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship.

10:15-11:05
The Value of Health (and Life)

Abstract

Despite huge gains in health worldwide over the past three decades, some big questions remain. Why do 500,000 children die annually from preventable diarrhoeal diseases, if $1 invested in sanitation yields $25 in return? What explains the failure to invest in health services that can prevent the spread of Ebola? Why does tuberculosis continue to thrive in India’s health market? Why is health care more equitable in Scandinavia than the United States? Is universal health coverage really affordable? Why has there been so little reaction to illness and death linked to climate change? 

To address these questions, this talk will explore the gap between health as a fundamental human right, “guaranteed” by international treaties, and the actual value of health determined by individuals and society ─ by the interplay between those with common (communities) and competing (markets) interests, and by their capacities, resources and preferences. The wide range of factors that determine action on health, mediated by price and value, is often ignored by public organizations (including the WHO) that issue norms and standards (judged e.g. by cost-effectiveness) and advocate their use. And yet the way to maximize health is by understanding what is done in practice, by whom, and with what motives. This inquiry leads on to questions about whether social technology can keep pace with (or even outpace) R&D, and about the way in which health policy is informed by science.

Speakers

Professor Christopher Dye FMedSci FRS, University of Oxford

Professor Christopher Dye FMedSci FRS, University of Oxford

Chris Dye trained as a biologist and ecologist (York) but postgraduate research on mosquitoes (Oxford) led to a career in epidemiology and public health, principally at Imperial College, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the World Health Organization. As WHO Director of Strategy 2014-18, he served as science advisor to the Director General, oversaw the production and dissemination of health information by WHO press and libraries, and coordinated WHO's work on health and the Sustainable Development Goals. He is now Professor of Epidemiology at Oxford University. With many collaborators, he is currently investigating the epidemiology and control of COVID-19 in Brazil, China and Europe, and helping to develop policies for data management in emergencies. His most recent book is "The Great Health Dilemma: Is Prevention Better than Cure?" (OUP 2021).

11:05-11:55
Climate Change: A defining challenge for the 21st century?

Abstract

The scientific evidence for climate change will be examined, describing how simulations of the Earth’s weather and climate are constructed and how these can be used to make assessments of what our climate and weather might be like in the coming decades. Based on this scientific evidence it will be argued that climate change may well be one of the defining challenges of the twenty-first century, and that how we respond will determine our future prosperity, health and well-being and the sustainability of Earth’s natural environment.

Speakers

Professor Dame Julia Slingo DBE FRS, Former Chief Scientist at the Met Office, UK

Professor Dame Julia Slingo DBE FRS, Former Chief Scientist at the Met Office, UK

Julia Slingo became Met Office Chief Scientist in February 2009 where she leads a team of over 500 scientists working on a very broad portfolio of research that underpins weather forecasting, climate prediction and climate change projections. Before joining the Met Office she was the Director of Climate Research in NERC's National Centre for Atmospheric Science, at the University of Reading. In 2006 she founded the Walker Institute for Climate System Research at Reading, aimed at addressing the cross disciplinary challenges of climate change and its impacts. Julia has had a long-term career in atmospheric physics and climate science, working at the Met Office, ECMWF and NCAR in the USA. She has developed and used complex weather and climate models throughout her research career to understand the climate system and to predict its evolution. Her special interests are in tropical weather and climate variability, understanding their influence on the global climate system and their role in monthly to decadal climate prediction. Julia was elected to the Fellowship in 2015.

11:55-12:15
Close of meeting

Speakers

Professor Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS, Professor of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford and Co-Chair, Data Theme Community Group of Interest, Royal Society

Professor Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS, Professor of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford and Co-Chair, Data Theme Community Group of Interest, Royal Society

Angela McLean is a mathematical biologist at Oxford University where she is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College and Professor of Mathematical Biology in the Zoology Department. Her research interests concern understanding how fast infections spread, both within individuals and between individuals.  In addition to her own academic work she has played a sustained role in advising government on the use of scientific evidence in making good policies.  At the Royal Society she Co-Chairs the Data Community of Interest and Chairs the steering group for the series of public lectures on artificial intelligence, You and AI.

Professor Jon Keating FRS, University of Bristol, UK

Professor Jon Keating FRS, University of Bristol, UK

Jon Keating is based at the University of Bristol. He gained his first degree from Oxford University and his PhD from the University of Bristol, under the supervision of Professor Sir Michael Berry FRS. His research is centred in the areas of quantum chaos, random matrix theory and number theory. He has held a BRIMS Research Fellowship, funded by Hewlett-Packard, and an EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship.

12:15-13:30
Lunch and depart