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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.

Organisers

Schedule

13:30-13:45
Welcome by hosts

Speakers

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

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

Speakers

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

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

10:00-10:15
Welcome by hosts

Speakers

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

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

11:55-12:15
Close of meeting

Speakers