̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Cambridge Festival

Bookings open for the 26th Cambridge Science Festival

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 09:36:42 +0000

Now in its 26^th year, the annual Festival is set to host 390 free events between 9 – 22 March at venues across the city. ̽��ֱ��theme this year is ‘vision’.

Healthcare and medicine are a major feature of this year’s programme with sessions on everything from growing mini organs and 3D printing of living cells to a promising new treatment for hardened arteries.

Using state-of-the-art technology, researchers are now able to grow organoids – miniature versions of organs. In Mini-organs in a dish: how organoids are revolutionising research (12 March), Dr Emma Rawlins, ̽��ֱ��Gurdon Institute, explains how organoids are grown and discusses why this new technology is so important for biomedical research.

Dr Rawlins said: “Organoid technology has already been used to study human embryonic development, to test personalised treatments for cystic fibrosis and to replace some of the animals used in drug testing. Scientists are now exploring its potential for growing replacement organs, repairing damaged genes and providing personalised treatments for other diseases.”

Researchers are also exploring whether they can ‘print’ biomaterials to repair organs among other healthcare benefits. In 3D printing for healthcare (14 March), Dr Yan Yan Shery Huang, Department of Engineering, gives an overview on how 3D printing technologies could transform the way implants are produced, drugs are screened or perhaps even how damaged organs are ‘repaired’.

Dr Huang said: “Research is focused on two main streams: bioprinting for tissue and organ function replacements, including printing a scaffold for a heart, a human ear, and a blood vessel-permeated-bioreactor; and bioprinting for drug testing – pseudo-models of different levels of complexities, from brain to muscles have already been created. Research is continuing, with the aim to reduce and replace animal studies and to improve the predictive power of the models.”

Hardening of the arteries is a major cause of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and stroke. Despite the huge impact on human health, there are still no cures. In More than a blocked pipe: the hardening of arteries and their role in stroke and heart attacks (18 March), Dr Nick Evans, Department of Medicine, and Professor Melinda Duer, Department of Chemistry, discuss their combined efforts to find better diagnoses and treatments. They reveal new research and findings on how hardened arteries can be diagnosed more precisely through PET (positron emission tomography), which is proving to be an excellent way to assess patients and could lead to potential new drug treatment.

“To stop artery calcification, we need to stop the mineral from forming in the artery wall in the first place,” Professor Duer said. “We have very recently discovered that a molecule known as poly(ADP ribose), produced by cells in the artery wall that are stressed from fatty deposits around them, is responsible for initiating the formation of the mineral deposits. ̽��ֱ��exciting treatment possibility is to stop stressed cells from making poly(ADP ribose) – if it works, it will be the first drug treatment for vascular calcification.”

Scientists and researchers at the forefront of tackling ovarian cancer are also making breakthroughs. In Tackling ovarian cancer: turning the tide on one of the toughest cancers (19 March), Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK CI), the Department of Radiology and AstraZeneca discuss how they are rapidly turning the tide on ovarian cancer using innovative new detection methods, including liquid biopsy and virtual biopsy, and through new treatments, such as Olaparib – which became available in the UK in December 2019.

You can book online or download the full programme via Cambridge Science Festival.

Keep up to date with the Festival on social media via Facebook and Twitter #CamSciFest and Instagram.

Bookings for the 2020 Cambridge Science Festival open today (10th February) with a huge array of events and scientists at the forefront of groundbreaking research.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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

Cambridge Festival of Ideas 2018 explores extremes

mjg209 — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 00:40:51 +0000

This year’s Cambridge Festival of Ideas will host over 200 events, exhibitions and performances as it explores the theme of extremes, from political and social radicalism to life at high altitudes and the extreme high street.

̽��ֱ��Festival, now in its 11th year, runs from 15th to 28th October. Speakers include Baroness Valerie Amos, musician Evelyn Glennie, Rowan Williams, Professor David Runciman, best-selling author Tara Westover, film director Tim Slade, author James Bloodworth, psychologist Terri Apter, Professor David Reynolds, economist Victoria Bateman, postcolonial literature expert Priyamvada Gopal and international trade economist Meredith Crowley.

̽��ֱ��programme launches online today and is packed with events ranging from debates, talks, exhibitions, films and performances held in lecture theatres, museums and galleries around Cambridge. There are events for all ages and most are free.

Debates include:

- Wars in the Middle East: living through extremes. What happens to those who choose not to flee during war situations in the Middle East? With BBC journalist Nawal El Maghafi, anthropologist Dr Lori Allen, Sophie Roborgh and Mona Jebril. [16th October]

- Europe in an age of extremes. With huge internal and external pressures facing the European Union, including the rise of nationalist and populist movements of all types across Europe - both inside the EU and outside, as well as the power struggle going on for control of Europe, can it survive? With Ian Kearns, Dr Julie Smith, Professor John Breuilly and Timothy Less. [18th October]

- ̽��ֱ��future of work. Will the future of work be one in which jobs become ever more precarious and robots take over or can we regulate to make the gig economy and artificial intelligence work in our favour? With author James Bloodworth, Dr Alex Wood, Dr Hatice Gunes and Ben Dellot from the Royal Society for the Arts. [20th October]

- What does a global Britain mean post-Brexit? Has Brexit highlighted a need for a broader discussion about immigration and Britain's place in the world today? With historian Shruti Kapila, Richard Johnson from Lancaster ̽��ֱ��, Sundeep Lidher and Professor Philip Murphy. [23rd October]

- Bridging the gender gap. What does gender equality mean in practice? Is feminism a threat to men or a collective liberation from social stereotypes? Can there be equality at work without equality at home? With Dr Victoria Bateman, Dr Manali Desai, film, tv and theatre director Topher Campbell and Duncan Fisher from the Family Initiative. [24th October]

- Trade wars: deal or no deal?: What is the likely impact of trade war and how has the tension between protectionism and free trade played out in history? A panel discussion with Dr Marc-William Palen, Dr Meredith Crowley, Dr Lorand Bartels and economist Rebecca Harding. [20th October]

Other sessions include:

- Praise and blame. Psychologist Dr Terri Apter on how being judgmental shapes our relationships and why it may not be such a bad thing. [22nd October]

- Educated: a journey towards independence. Author Tara Westover in conversation with Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman about her best-selling memoir, Educated. [20th October]

- Anticolonialism and the making of British dissent. Dr Priyamvada Gopal on the ways in which colonial subjects took up British ideas and turned them against empire when making claims to freedom and self-determination. [25th October]

There will also be a range of hands-on sessions for adults such as a range of events in the Law Faculty covering everything from ethical dilemmas in medical imaging and what we can do with plastic wastes as well as many events for children, including an interactive Arctic Day, Mini Movers in the Museum, a making giants workshop, a pre-history day and interactive languages events on everything from translation to dying languages.

̽��ֱ��Festival is a multi-media cultural event. There will be cinema screenings of films such as Tim Slade’s ̽��ֱ��Destruction of Memory on cultural destruction over the past century; exhibitions on subjects ranging from the NHS, refugees on Europe’s borders, the extreme high street and the first women computer programmers; and a range of events and performances at the Cambridge Junction.

̽��ֱ��Festival will also see the launch of Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement with events including a discussion on rethinking humanitarianism with Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.

Ariel Retik, manager of the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, said: " ̽��ֱ��Festival of Ideas aims to challenge people’s received ideas and to question the status quo. ̽��ֱ��theme of this year's Festival is extremes. We’re living in an age where everything seems to be growing more extreme – whether politics, income inequality, the climate or technology – and we want to explore this in its broadest sense.

"A core aim of the Festival is to share with the public some of the incredible research and thinking that is happening in Cambridge and beyond across disciplines and institutions and to encourage an exchange of ideas between audience and researchers. Every year, we welcome thousands of people to hundreds of events, including talks, debates, performances, films and exhibitions. This year, we look forward to doing the same.”

̽��ֱ��Festival sponsors and partners are St John’s College, Anglia Ruskin ̽��ֱ��, RAND Europe, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums and Botanic Garden, Cambridge Junction and Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Press. ̽��ֱ��Festival media partners are BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and Cambridge Independent.

*Bookings for the Festival of Ideas open in September.

Find out more on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cambridgefestivalofideas and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/camideasfest #cfi2018

̽��ֱ��11th Cambridge Festival of Ideas runs from 15th to 28th October with over 200 mainly free events, from debates, discussions and talks to exhibitions, theatre and world cinema.

̽��ֱ��theme of this year's Festival is extremes. We’re living in an age where everything seems to be growing more extreme – whether politics, income inequality, the climate or technology – and we want to explore this in its broadest sense.

Ariel Retik

Yes

Celebrating 10 years of European research excellence

ag236 — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 12:40:43 +0000

When European government representatives met in Lisbon in the year 2000, and expressed an aspiration that Europe should become the world's leading knowledge economy by 2010, they agreed on the need to create a body to “fund and co-ordinate basic research at European level”.

This was the impetus underlying the creation, in 2007, of the European Research Council (ERC).

Ten years after its foundation, the ERC has become a European success story. It has supported some 6,500 projects through its prestigious grants, and has become a unique model for the fostering and funding of innovative academic research.

To mark the anniversary, events are being held across Europe during ERC Week, running from 13-19 March. At the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, various recipients of ERC grants will be sharing their findings with a wide audience in talks scheduled as part of the Cambridge Science Festival.

̽��ֱ��McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research will be joining in ERC Week celebrations by hosting a conference on Thursday, 16 March.

On the same day, a reception for Cambridge recipients of ERC grants, attended by ERC president Prof. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, will be held at the Fitzwilliam Museum, which is currently showing the ERC-supported exhibition, “Madonnas and Miracles: ̽��ֱ��Holy Home in Renaissance Italy”.

̽��ֱ��ERC supports outstanding researchers in all fields of science and scholarship. It awards three types of research awards (Starter, Consolidator, Advanced) through a competitive, peer-reviewed process that rewards excellence. Its focus on “frontier research” allows academics to develop innovative and far-reaching projects over five-year periods.

̽��ֱ��United Kingdom has been the largest recipient of ERC awards –between 2007 and 2015, it received 24% of all ERC funding.

To date, the ERC has supported 1524 projects by UK-based academics. Researchers at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge have won 218 of those grants, in fields ranging from Astronomy to Zoology.

“What is special about an ERC grant?”, asks Dr Marta Mirazón Lahr, who was awarded an ERC Advanced Investigator Award for her project “IN-AFRICA”, which examines the evolution of modern humans in East Africa.

“An obvious side is that it’s a lot of money. But I think it’s more than just the money. Because it’s five years, the ERC grant allows you to get a group and build a real community around the project. It also allows you to explore things in greater depth.”

An ERC grant allowed Dr Debora Sijacki, at the Institute of Astronomy, to attract “a really competitive and international team, which otherwise would have been almost impossible to get.”

Being funded for a five-year period, she adds, “gives you time to expand and really tackle some of the major problems in astrophysics, rather than doing incremental research.”

It also allowed her access to facilities: “In my case, it was access to world-leading supercomputers. And without the ERC grant this would have been difficult.”

“Real progress in research is made when researchers can tackle big important questions," says Prof David Baulcombe, of the Department of Plant Sciences, the recipient of two ERC grants. " ̽��ֱ��ERC programme invites researchers to submit ambitious, blue-skies, imaginative proposals. There aren’t many others sources of funding that allow one to do that sort a thing.”

Dr Christos Lynteris, of the Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CRASSH), is the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant for his project “Visual representations of the third plague pandemic.

“An ERC is a unique opportunity," he says: “it fosters interdisciplinary work. It also fosters analytical tools and the creation of new methods.”

“It offers a great opportunity to work with other people, over a period of 5 years, which is something very unusual, and with quite a liberal framework, so you are able to change and shift your questions, to reformulate them. For me, it means freedom, above everything.”

For Prof. Ottoline Leyser, Director of the Sainsbury Laboratory, it is the “ERC ethos” and its “emphasis on taking things in new directions” that has made all the difference.

̽��ֱ��ERC values an innovative, risk-taking approach “in a way that conventional grant-funding schemes don’t –they usually want to see that slow build rather than the risky step into the unknown.”

Prof. Simon Goldhill, Director of CRASSH, was awarded an ERC Advanced Investigator Award for his project “Bible and Antiquity in 19th Century Culture”. It has given him “the unique opportunity to do a genuinely interdisciplinary collaborative project with the time and space it takes to make such interdisciplinarity work.”

“Most importantly,” he adds, “the financial model offered by this sort of project enables us to do work that is 15 or 20 years ahead of the rest of the world, and Britain and Europe are all the stronger for it.”

̽��ֱ��sentiment is echoed by Prof. Ruth Cameron, of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. ̽��ֱ��impact of an ERC grant for her project “3D Engineered Environments for Regenerative Medicine” has, she says, “exceeded expectations”.

So what has the ERC ever done for us? Quite a lot, say Cambridge academics, as they mark the 10th anniversary of Europe’s premier research-funding body

̽��ֱ��financial model offered by this sort of project enables us to do work that is 15 or 20 years ahead of the rest of the world. Britain and Europe are all the stronger for it.

Prof. Simon Goldhill, CRASSH

Cambridge & the ERC: 10 years of research excellence

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Yes

Cambridge Science Festival begins today

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 11:42:03 +0000

Hundreds of mostly free talks, exhibitions and hands-on events will take place around the city during the annual two-week festival, covering everything from astronomy to zoology. This year’s theme is ‘getting personal’ – looking at health and disease, our place in the world and our impact on the environment in which we live.

Free events taking place tonight (13 March) include talks on the search for life outside our solar system, which infectious diseases are going to kill you, and what brain scans can reveal about the inner workings of our minds.

In his talk Exoplanets: on the hunt of universal life, Professor Didier Queloz from the Cavendish Laboratory will show how early results from planets outside the solar system are paving the way for atmospheric studies of habitable exoplanets with a similar composition to Earth. After much speculation and philosophical debate, the existence of life outside our solar system is close to becoming a testable scientific hypothesis.

Dr Colin Russell from the Department of Veterinary Medicine will discuss what scientists are doing to predict the emergence of new diseases and combat existing threats in his talk How to feel safe: which infectious diseases are going to kill you. And Professors Barbara Sahakian, John Pickard and Molly Crockett and Dr Julia Gottwald will discuss some of the ethical issues raised by our increasing ability to ‘read’ thoughts through the use of functional MRI (fMRI) in their talk Sex, lies and brain scans: can scans reveal what goes on in our minds?

This Saturday and Sunday, dozens of events for families will be taking place around the city. Highlights include Dr Peter Wothers creating lots of loud bangs as he looks at the science of explosions; James Grime discussing Alan Turing and the Enigma Machine; Chemistry in the Kitchen; and David Bainbridge’s investigation of whether teenagers really are unproductive and worthless in his talk Zits, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge Science Festival runs until 26 March, and is presented by the ̽��ֱ�� and its partner institutions, local charities and businesses. To browse the full programme or to pre-book events, visit the Cambridge Science Festival website, or call 01223 766766. Follow the Festival on Twitter or Facebook.

Do aliens exist? Can brain scans reveal our naughtiest thoughts? And what’s the point of teenagers, anyhow? These are just some of the questions which will be tackled at the Cambridge Science Festival, which kicks off today.

Saskia Suijkerbuijk, Piddini Lab, ̽��ֱ��Gurdon Institute, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

Tree of life

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Yes