探花直播 of Cambridge - Robinson College

Under the bonnet at Dawn, the UK's fastest AI supercomputer

hcf38 — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 15:58:08 +0000

How AI supercomputer, Dawn, is being used to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing humanity.

Cambridge talent recognised in 2025 New Year Honours

ps748 — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:30:00 +0000

Former 探花直播 of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, an Honorary Fellow of聽Wolfson College, Homerton College and St Edmund's College, is made聽Knight Grand Cross (GBE) for services to cancer research, clinical research, medicine and to charities.

Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu, who has been President of Wolfson College since October 2024, becomes a Dame (DBE) for services to chemical sciences and inclusion and diversity. Professor Uchegbu is a renowned expert in the field of pharmaceutical science and was most recently Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience at 探花直播 College London.聽Her research has focussed on methods that can be used to help drugs reach their target more effectively and reduce the likelihood of uncomfortable side effects.聽While at UCL she spearheaded a project to improve outcomes for both staff and students from under-represented ethnic groups. She is聽is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

She said: 鈥淚鈥檓 absolutely thrilled. I wouldn鈥檛 say I鈥檓 humbled 鈥� I know people say that, but when I saw the letter at the Porters鈥� Lodge what I felt was an overwhelming sense of gratitude and pride. In my wildest dreams I never believed I would get such an award.鈥�

Professor Ashley Moffet, Professor of Reproductive Immunology, is made聽Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (CMG) for services to reproductive health. A Fellow of King's College, she is the foremost international authority on the immunology of human reproduction and her work on genetic research has helped explain high rates of pre-eclampsia and maternal mortality in Ugandan populations. She is a Fellow of both the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.聽

She said: "I am delighted by this honour that is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of my many colleagues both here in Cambridge and in Uganda who are working together so tirelessly to support women in the field of maternal health."

Professor Gilly Carr is Professor of Conflict Archaeology and Holocaust Heritage and receives an OBE聽for聽services to Holocaust research and education.聽Professor Carr, a Fellow of St Catharine's College, is a member of both the UK delegation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and the academic advisory board for the UK Holocaust Memorial Centre.聽Professor Carr has a particular research interest in wartime incarceration, internment and imprisonment. 2024 saw the publication of her latest book,聽'A Materiality of Internment',聽which drew on over 15 years of research and interviews with more than 65 former internees.聽

She said: 鈥淚 am absolutely thrilled for my research and teaching to be recognised in this way. I've been working hard on behalf of victims of Nazism and the Holocaust for 15 years and for this to be seen as nationally important and worthwhile encourages me to continue my work with vigour.鈥�

Professor Rachel Oliver, who also receives an OBE,聽is a materials engineer, inventor and commercial spinout founder. A Fellow of Robinson College, she is currently Director of the Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride and Chief Scientific Officer of Poro Technologies Ltd (Porotech). Her research is in understanding and engineering the small-scale structure of semiconductor materials to enable new technologies to develop. Professor Oliver is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Engineering and is a passionate advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion in science and engineering.聽

She said: 鈥淚 am delighted to receive this honour and it is vital that I acknowledge the fabulous teams that I work with both in the 探花直播 of Cambridge and at Porotech, a company that spun out from my research group. 聽I hope I can encourage more people to get involved in semiconductors in the UK. 探花直播semiconductor ecosystem has been an exciting place to work throughout my career, but never more so than right now, with both research and industry rapidly growing and stepping up to address some of the most pressing challenges we face.鈥�

Dr James Biddulph, former headteacher of the 探花直播 of Cambridge Primary School,聽has been awarded an MBE for services to education. Dr Biddulph was the inaugural headteacher of the school from 2015 until 2023, and under his leadership it聽attained an Outstanding Ofsted rating in 2018.

Eleanor Sharpston KC, an Emeritus Fellow of King's College, has been made聽Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (DCMG)聽for services to Justice and to the Education of Law in the UK and Europe.聽Dame Eleanor has combined a career as a barrister (specialising in European Union and European Convention on Human Rights聽law) with an academic career first at 探花直播 College London and then at the 探花直播 of Cambridge where she continues as a Yorke Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Law Faculty. She was also Arthur Goodhart Visiting Professor in Legal Science from 2023 to 2024.

Academics and staff at both the 探花直播 of Cambridge and Colleges feature in the 2025 list, which recognises the achievements and service of people across the UK.

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Celebrating remarkable talent as part of Black History Month

ps748 — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 10:07:42 +0000

Events in Cambridge for Black History Month

Cambridge's Race Equality Lecture

Jesus College, Thursday 31 October

It may seem odd, but we start at the end of the month because this year鈥檚 Race Equality Lecture will take place on Thursday 31 October. 探花直播lecture is titled 鈥淩acism without racists 鈥� how racism works in the USA and the western world.鈥� It will be delivered by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Professor of Sociology at Duke 探花直播 and former President of the American Sociological Association. It will take place in the Frankopan Hall at Jesus College and will be available to view online.

Book your place at the Race Equality Lecture

Olaudah Equiano Annual Lecture on Race Justice

Anglia Ruskin 探花直播, Wednesday 9 October

Lord Simon Woolley, Principal of Homerton College and co-founder of Operation Black Vote, will deliver the Olaudah Equiano Annual Lecture on Race Justice at Anglia Ruskin 探花直播 on Wednesday 9聽October. 探花直播event will take place at the Cambridge campus and starts at 6pm. Lord Woolley is a tireless campaigner for equality, not just for Black communities but all under-represented or marginalised groups. During the event he will discuss the fight for racial equality drawing on his own personal experiences.

Book tickets for the Olaudah Equiano Annual Lecture on Race Justice

Moving beyond stereotypes surrounding Black women

King's College, Thursday 10 October

On the evening of Thursday 10 October, celebrated authors Kelechi Okafor and Afua Hirsch will discuss the challenges and opportunities they have faced when calling out social injustices in their work, with a focus on how their own identities have shaped their activism. They will share insights on the creative processes involved in their writing and how it has impacted on conversations about race, womanhood and justice.聽

Reserve a place for the discussion at King's

Collaborative art workshops

Robinson College, Wednesday 16 and Saturday 19 October

For those interested in modern art Robinson College is hosting two collaborative art workshops. 探花直播first, on Wednesday 16聽October, will be hosted by London artist, Shem, on the theme 鈥楤lack present now鈥�. And then, on Saturday 19 October, the College will host Joshua Obichere, a Cambridge alumnus.

Panel discussion: Black excellence, health and wellness

St Edmund's College, Wednesday 16 October

Also on the afternoon of Wednesday 16聽October, St Edmund鈥檚 College will be hosting a panel discussion on the themes of Black excellence, health and wellness. Speakers include economist and entrepreneur Ebenezer Ademisoye, clinical scientist, Dr Rafia Al-Lamki and Mastercard Scholar, Godspower Major.

Reserve your ticket for the panel discussion at St Edmund's College

Fireside chat at the Business School

Cambridge Judge Business School, Thursday 17 October

Lord Woolley will participate in a 鈥榝ireside chat鈥� at the Business School on the afternoon of Thursday 17聽October. 探花直播event will be chaired by Kamiar Mohaddes and will also include Tabitha Mwangi, Programme Director of the Mastercard Foundation, and Orobosa Isokpan from the Cambridge Africa Business Network. There will be networking opportunities as well but registration is essential. 聽

An exhibition and events at St Catharine's College

St Catharine's College, throughout October

During the entire month of October, St Catharine鈥檚 College is hosting an exhibition showcasing the achievements of two prominent Black alumni. 探花直播pioneering doctor and civil rights activist Dr Cecil Clarke matriculated in 1914 in the first months of the First World War. Wendell Mottley was an Olympic athlete and economist who served as Trinidad and Tobago鈥檚 Finance Minister between 1991 and 1995. 探花直播exhibition commemorating them is being held in the Shakeshaft Library.

See the full programme of Black History Month events at St Catharine's College

探花直播Blacktionary Show

Wolfson College, Saturday 19 October

On Saturday 19 October Wolfson College hosts the 鈥楤lacktionary Show鈥�. Authors Dr Maggie Semple and Jane Oremosu will be discussing their new work 鈥楳y Little Book: A Blacktionary聽- 探花直播pocket guide to the language of race鈥�. 探花直播book aims to help break down barriers when it comes to engaging in conversations on race. 探花直播event will be introduced by Dr Kenny Monrose, from the 探花直播鈥檚 Department of Sociology.

Panel discussion: how organisations promote equality and diversity in the face of a cultural backlash

Homerton College, Tuesday 22 October

On Tuesday 22 October Lord Woolley will again be participating in a discussion being held at Homerton College looking at how companies and other organisations promote equality and diversity in the face of a cultural backlash. Other prominent speakers include the successful businesswomen, Olu Orugboh and Yemi Jackson.

探花直播Trevelyan Lecture: 'Black Genius: Science, Race and the Extraordinary Portrait of Francis Williams'

Bateman Auditorium, Gonville and Caius College 5 pm Friday 25 October (Faculty of History)

Francis Williams was a Jamaican polymath who was born into slavery but ended his life as a gentleman and a scholar. His portrait, dating from the 1740s, shows him surrounded by books and scientific instruments. Was he Cambridge's first Black student? And who commissioned the portrait, and why? Princeton historian, Fara Dabhoiwala, will tackle these questions when he presents new research on the painting and its intriguing sitter.聽

Black History Month Academic Seminar

Hughes Hall, Monday 28 October

An opportunity to hear from the College's Black staff and PhD students and celebrate their achievements but also to hear about the challenges facing Black students at Cambridge. One of the main subjects for discussion will be the low numbers of Black academics in the UK.聽

More details about the seminar here

探花直播Really Popular Book Club: Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo

Online, Tuesday 29 October

On Tuesday聽29 October the 探花直播 Library鈥檚 Really Popular Book Club will be discussing Bernardine聽Evaristo鈥檚鈥楳r Loverman鈥�. 探花直播book follows an Antiguan born immigrant living in Hackney, London, who leads a double life. 探花直播discussion will be hosted by Yvonne Battle Felton, Academic Director of Creative Writing at Cambridge鈥檚 Institute of Continuing Education. This is an online event.

Black Advisory Hub events

St John's College, Wednesday 30 October

During the afternoon of Wednesday 30 October, the Black Advisory Hub is hosting a social and afternoon tea for Black students at St John鈥檚 College. It's one of many events the Hub is hosting. These include induction sessions for both undergraduates and postgraduates and the prizegiving ceremony for the Bridgetower essay competition.

Visit the Black Advisory Hub to register

Cambridge Students' Union events

St John's College, Thursday 3 October

探花直播Cambridge Students' Union is also hosting several events to mark Black History Month. This opens with a screening of the documentary 'Educationally Subnormal: a British scandal' on Thursday 3 October.

Visit the Cambridge SU to see what's on

Black History Month in Cambridge聽brings an opportunity to take part in topical discussions, appreciate art and hear from a range of engaging speakers.聽

Montage of faces

Yes

British Academy elects Cambridge researchers to Fellowship

ta385 — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 10:59:00 +0000

They are among 86 distinguished scholars to be elected to the fellowship in recognition of their work in fields ranging from medieval history to international relations.

探花直播Cambridge academics made Fellows of the Academy this year are:

Professor Elisabeth van Houts (History Faculty; Emmanuel College)

Professor Tim Harper (History Faculty; Magdalene College)

Professor Rosalind Love (Department of ASNC; Robinson College)

Professor James Montgomery (FAMES; Trinity Hall)

Professor Ay艧e Zarakol (POLIS; Emmanuel College)

Professor Tim Dalgleish (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit)

Founded in 1902, the British Academy is the UK鈥檚 national academy for the humanities and social sciences. It is a Fellowship consisting of over 1700 of the leading minds in these subjects from the UK and overseas.

Current Fellows include the classicist Professor Dame Mary Beard, the historian Professor Sir Simon Schama and philosopher Professor Baroness Onora O鈥橬eill, while previous Fellows include Dame Frances Yates, Sir Winston Churchill, Seamus Heaney and Beatrice Webb. 探花直播Academy is also a funder of both national and international research, as well as a forum for debate and public engagement.

In 2024, a total of 52 UK Fellows, 30 International Fellows and 4 Honorary Fellows have been elected to the British Academy Fellowship.

Professor Ayse Zarakol said: 鈥淚 am absolutely delighted to be elected a Fellow of the British Academy in recognition of my interdisciplinary work at the intersection of international relations, global history and historical sociology. It is an honour to join such a long line of distinguished scholars. I very much look forward to working with the Academy to advance research on the big questions of our day and to ensure that UK remains a hospitable environment for social sciences and humanities research that attracts the best talent from around the world.鈥�

Professor Rosalind Love said: 鈥淎s a grateful recipient of one its Postdoctoral Fellowships, I have always revered the British Academy and am deeply humbled by this honour. It shows that the Academy values the teaching of Medieval Latin, and research in that area, at a time when the subject faces cuts elsewhere. I鈥檇 like to express sincerest gratitude to the teachers who gave me a solid grounding and to all who have supported me over the years: they made this possible. I look forward to working with other FBAs to shape the future of the Humanities.鈥�

Professor Tim Harper, Head of Cambridge鈥檚 School of the Humanities and Social Sciences, said: 鈥淚t is an honour to be elected a fellow of the British Academy. As a historian, I am very aware of the challenges and opportunities for the humanities and social sciences that we collectively face. I look forward to continuing to strive to strengthen their position.鈥�

Welcoming the Fellows, President of the British Academy Professor Julia Black said: 鈥淲e are delighted to welcome this year鈥檚 cohort of Fellows, and I offer my warmest congratulations to each and every one. From the Academy鈥檚 earliest days, our Fellows are the lifeblood of the organisation, representing the very best of our disciplines 鈥� and we could not do all that we do without their expertise, time and energy. I very much look forward to working closely with our new Fellows 鈥� the breadth and depth of their expertise adds so much to the Academy.鈥�

Six academics from the 探花直播 of Cambridge have been made Fellows of the prestigious British Academy for the humanities and social sciences.

It is an honour to join such a long line of distinguished scholars.

Ay艧e Zarakol

探花直播British Academy

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AI and scholarship: a manifesto

fpjl2 — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 10:39:00 +0000

Two leading academics from the 探花直播's School of Humanities and Social Sciences provide a framework that supports聽scholars聽and聽students聽in navigating generative AI.

AI system self-organises to develop features of brains of complex organisms

cjb250 — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 16:00:47 +0000

As neural systems such as the brain organise themselves and make connections, they have to balance competing demands. For example, energy and resources are needed to grow and sustain the network in physical space, while at the same time optimising the network for information processing. This trade-off shapes all brains within and across species, which may help explain why many brains converge on similar organisational solutions.

Jascha Achterberg, a Gates Scholar from the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (MRC CBU) at the 探花直播 of Cambridge said: 鈥淣ot only is the brain great at solving complex problems, it does so while using very little energy. In our new work we show that considering the brain鈥檚 problem solving abilities alongside its goal of spending as few resources as possible can help us understand why brains look like they do.鈥�

Co-lead author Dr Danyal Akarca, also from the MRC CBU, added: 鈥淭his stems from a broad principle, which is that biological systems commonly evolve to make the most of what energetic resources they have available to them. 探花直播solutions they come to are often very elegant and reflect the trade-offs between various forces imposed on them.鈥�

In a study published today in Nature Machine Intelligence, Achterberg, Akarca and colleagues created an artificial system intended to model a very simplified version of the brain and applied physical constraints. They found that their system went on to develop certain key characteristics and tactics similar to those found in human brains.

Instead of real neurons, the system used computational nodes. Neurons and nodes are similar in function, in that each takes an input, transforms it, and produces an output, and a single node or neuron might connect to multiple others, all inputting information to be computed.

In their system, however, the researchers applied a 鈥榩hysical鈥� constraint on the system. Each node was given a specific location in a virtual space, and the further away two nodes were, the more difficult it was for them to communicate. This is similar to how neurons in the human brain are organised.

探花直播researchers gave the system a simple task to complete 鈥� in this case a simplified version of a maze navigation task typically given to animals such as rats and macaques when studying the brain, where it has to combine multiple pieces of information to decide on the shortest route to get to the end point.

One of the reasons the team chose this particular task is because to complete it, the system needs to maintain a number of elements 鈥� start location, end location and intermediate steps 鈥� and once it has learned to do the task reliably, it is possible to observe, at different moments in a trial, which nodes are important. For example, one particular cluster of nodes may encode the finish locations, while others encode the available routes, and it is possible to track which nodes are active at different stages of the task.

Initially, the system does not know how to complete the task and makes mistakes. But when it is given feedback it gradually learns to get better at the task. It learns by changing the strength of the connections between its nodes, similar to how the strength of connections between brain cells changes as we learn. 探花直播system then repeats the task over and over again, until eventually it learns to perform it correctly.

With their system, however, the physical constraint meant that the further away two nodes were, the more difficult it was to build a connection between the two nodes in response to the feedback. In the human brain, connections that span a large physical distance are expensive to form and maintain.

When the system was asked to perform the task under these constraints, it used some of the same tricks used by real human brains to solve the task. For example, to get around the constraints, the artificial systems started to develop hubs 鈥� highly connected nodes that act as conduits for passing information across the network.

More surprising, however, was that the response profiles of individual nodes themselves began to change: in other words, rather than having a system where each node codes for one particular property of the maze task, like the goal location or the next choice, nodes developed a flexible coding scheme. This means that at different moments in time nodes might be firing for a mix of the properties of the maze. For instance, the same node might be able to encode multiple locations of a maze, rather than needing specialised nodes for encoding specific locations. This is another feature seen in the brains of complex organisms.

Co-author Professor Duncan Astle, from Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Psychiatry, said: 鈥淭his simple constraint 鈥� it鈥檚 harder to wire nodes that are far apart 鈥� forces artificial systems to produce some quite complicated characteristics. Interestingly, they are characteristics shared by biological systems like the human brain. I think that tells us something fundamental about why our brains are organised the way they are.鈥�

Understanding the human brain

探花直播team are hopeful that their AI system could begin to shed light on how these constraints, shape differences between people鈥檚 brains, and contribute to differences seen in those that experience cognitive or mental health difficulties.

Co-author Professor John Duncan from the MRC CBU said: 鈥淭hese artificial brains give us a way to understand the rich and bewildering data we see when the activity of real neurons is recorded in real brains.鈥�

Achterberg added: 鈥淎rtificial 鈥榖rains鈥� allow us to ask questions that it would be impossible to look at in an actual biological system. We can train the system to perform tasks and then play around experimentally with the constraints we impose, to see if it begins to look more like the brains of particular individuals.鈥�

Implications for designing future AI systems

探花直播findings are likely to be of interest to the AI community, too, where they could allow for the development of more efficient systems, particularly in situations where there are likely to be physical constraints.

Dr Akarca said: 鈥淎I researchers are constantly trying to work out how to make complex, neural systems that can encode and perform in a flexible way that is efficient. To achieve this, we think that neurobiology will give us a lot of inspiration. For example, the overall wiring cost of the system we've created is much lower than you would find in a typical AI system.鈥�

Many modern AI solutions involve using architectures that only superficially resemble a brain. 探花直播researchers say their works shows that the type of problem the AI is solving will influence which architecture is the most powerful to use.

Achterberg said: 鈥淚f you want to build an artificially-intelligent system that solves similar problems to humans, then ultimately the system will end up looking much closer to an actual brain than systems running on large compute cluster that specialise in very different tasks to those carried out by humans. 探花直播architecture and structure we see in our artificial 鈥榖rain鈥� is there because it is beneficial for handling the specific brain-like challenges it faces.鈥�

This means that robots that have to process a large amount of constantly changing information with finite energetic resources could benefit from having brain structures not dissimilar to ours.

Achterberg added: 鈥淏rains of robots that are deployed in the real physical world are probably going to look more like our brains because they might face the same challenges as us. They need to constantly process new information coming in through their sensors while controlling their bodies to move through space towards a goal. Many systems will need to run all their computations with a limited supply of electric energy and so, to balance these energetic constraints with the amount of information it needs to process, it will probably need a brain structure similar to ours.鈥�

探花直播research was funded by the Medical Research Council, Gates Cambridge, the James S McDonnell Foundation, Templeton World Charity Foundation and Google DeepMind.

Reference
Achterberg, J & Akarca, D et al. Spatially embedded recurrent neural networks reveal widespread links between structural and functional neuroscience findings. Nature Machine Intelligence; 20 Nov 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s42256-023-00748-9

Cambridge scientists have shown that placing physical constraints on an artificially-intelligent system 鈥� in much the same way that the human brain has to develop and operate within physical and biological constraints 鈥� allows it to develop features of the brains of complex organisms in order to solve tasks.

Not only is the brain great at solving complex problems, it does so while using very little energy

Jascha Achterberg

DeltaWorks

Graphic representing an artificially intelligent brain

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Inaugural Sustainability Showcase celebrates environmental achievements across Cambridge

jek67 — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 12:59:52 +0000

Departing from the traditional format of separate award ceremonies, the showcase brought together numerous sustainability engagement programs administered by the Environmental Sustainability Team (EST), along with initiatives from other departments within the university.

Dr Sally Pidgeon, Head of Environmental Sustainability at the EST, opened the showcase which celebrated the exceptional efforts of volunteers, staff, and students, with a particular focus on the Green Impact program.聽

A total of 43 awards were bestowed for outstanding contributions to sustainability, including an impressive 12 teams that achieved Platinum status. To earn Platinum recognition, teams had to successfully complete 80% of the Green Impact workbook, demonstrating their dedication to sustainable practices.聽

探花直播esteemed institutions and teams that attained Platinum status this year included Cambridge 探花直播 Press and Assessment Cape Town, Cancer Research UK, IMS-MRL, 探花直播Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 探花直播Green Genies - DPHPC, Christ's College, Churchill College, Clare College, Gonville & Caius College, Robinson College, St John's College, and Wolfson College.

Additionally, nine teams achieved Excellence status, which involved undertaking a seven-month project centred around a specific sustainability theme of their choosing. These projects encompassed a wide range of sustainability aspects and addressed various challenges.聽

Some notable projects included:

探花直播Botanic Gardens: Exploring methods to reduce energy demands in the uninsulated, Grade II listed building at 1 Brookside.
Jesus and Churchill Colleges' Seed Library: Establishing a seed library to promote sustainable agriculture.
Lucy Cavendish College: Creating a Living Lab for Green Nudges to encourage sustainable behaviours.
Murray Edwards College: Implementing the Student Sustainability Leaders Programme.
Robinson College: Enhancing sustainability in guest supplies at the college.

Within the Green Impact program, teams also had the opportunity to nominate colleagues, students, and projects for 'Special Awards' to recognize exceptional contributions. Many of these individuals voluntarily dedicated significant amounts of time and effort to promote sustainability within their respective colleges, institutions, departments, or workplaces.聽

探花直播winners of these special awards were announced as follows:

Sustainability Hero:
- Winner: Ivan Higney, Darwin College
- Highly Commended: Oscar Holgate, Wolfson College
Innovation for Engagement:
- Winner: Animal agriculture, Lucy Cavendish College
- Highly Commended: Sustainability Thinking Space, Wolfson College
Environmental Improvement:
- Winner: Clare College Braeside
- Highly Commended: Cambridge 探花直播 Press and Assessment, South Africa Biodiversity Hikes
Community Action:
- Winner: Darwin College, Project Second Life
Student Leadership Award:
- Winner: Deidre Boodoosingh, Wolfson College
- Highly Commended: Lauren Court, Girton College

Furthermore, seven LEAF awards were presented to lab-based teams as part of the newly established program. 探花直播LEAF awards recognize outstanding sustainability efforts in laboratories that reduce the carbon footprint of their work.

You can read more about the Sustainability Showcase from the EST team here.

聽

探花直播Environmental Sustainability Team at the 探花直播 of Cambridge hosted its first-ever Sustainability Showcase on 21st June at Wolfson College.

Gemma Dunsmure and Emily Jones from the Green Genies 鈥� 探花直播Department of Public Health and Primary Care, winners of a Platinum Green Impact Award

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Two Cambridge researchers awarded Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies

sc604 — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 16:02:01 +0000

Funded by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Chair in Emerging Technologies scheme aims to identify global research visionaries and provide them with long-term support. 探花直播awards will enable the researchers to focus on strategic approaches for taking their technology from the bench to the boardroom.

Professor Rachel Oliver, from the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, is a Fellow of Robinson College and Director of the Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride. Gallium nitride (GaN) is a rising star of the electronics and optoelectronics industries, with GaN-based solid-state lighting bringing about a revolution in how we illuminate our world. Creating porosity in GaN vastly extends the range of materials properties achievable in this key compound semiconductor material. By controlling the porosity, engineers can select the properties they need to create new device concepts or to improve existing products.

Professor Oliver's aim is to create a set of materials fabrication processes which control the structure and properties of porous gallium nitride. Alongside this, she will develop a modelling toolbox for designing new devices. By developing new devices and embedding porous GaN in the UK鈥檚 vibrant and expanding compound semiconductor industry, Oliver hopes to drive this emerging materials platform towards widespread industrial adoption, fuelling the future of the UK compound semiconductor ecosystem.

Potential applications for the new research are both wide-ranging and far-reaching. Developing the use of UV LEDs for disinfection would give healthcare professionals new weapons in the fight against viral epidemics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Work on microdisplays using microLEDs could improve augmented and virtual reality headsets. As well as providing immersive experiences for gamers, this technology could be used by organisations for more effective online collaboration. By reducing the need for business travel, the ecological benefits would be significant.

Professor Vignolini and her Bio-inspired Photonics group in the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry have discovered that plants produce bright and vibrant colouration through organising cellulose into sub-micrometer structures that manipulate light. These natural examples have inspired Vignolini to mimic the use of biological building blocks to create sustainable colorants in the lab. She is developing a new generation of manufacturing processes to produce colours using only naturally derived biomaterials, such as cellulose, a biodegradable and abundant plant material.

Vignolini's vision is that bio-based pigments will replace current alternatives made with energy-intensive and problematic materials.

Professor Sir Jim McDonald FREng FRSE, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: 鈥� 探花直播Academy places huge importance on supporting excellence in engineering and often the key to engineers fulfilling their potential in tackling global challenges is the gift of time and continuity of support to bring the most disruptive and impactful ideas to fruition.鈥�

聽

Professor Rachel Oliver and Professor Silvia Vignolini from the 探花直播 of Cambridge have been awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies. Each award is worth 拢2.5 million over ten years to develop emerging technologies with high potential to deliver economic and social benefits to the UK.

Nathan Pitt (left), Nick Saffell (right)

Silvia Vignolini (left), Rachel Oliver (right)

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