̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Kavli Foundation

New centre to foster global conversations about ethical issues raised by science

plc32 — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Major scientific breakthroughs deepen our understanding of nature and ourselves. Such discoveries have the potential to transform our everyday lives.

Yet the same science that holds promise for progress often raises concerns and questions for society.

Who bears responsibility for the societal and ethical implications of scientific discoveries? When and how should wider public views be brought into discussion about the direction of scientific research, its benefits and risks? How can members of the public, ethicists and scientists be empowered to take part in meaningful and constructive dialogue? And what can we do to help researchers negotiate a path through these complexities?

̽��ֱ��new Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge will tackle these critical questions.

Announcing the launch on 9 December 2021, Professor Anna Middleton, inaugural Director of the Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “From the discovery of DNA to the development of the first artificial intelligence, and to the sequencing of 20% of the world’s COVID-19 virus today, Cambridge is at the cutting edge of science, and has been for centuries. This is truly a place where the big questions get explored. Through collaboration with experts in popular culture we will find the evidence base to drive conversations with everyday people around the ethical issues raised by science, so that all of us can share in decision making around the implications of science for society.”

̽��ֱ��Kavli Centre will foster global conversations and pursue fundamentally new ways to build and create new spaces and mechanisms for interaction on the ethical issues associated with scientific discovery. It will create a programme of innovative research and public engagement on broad scientific domains, initially focusing on three rapidly changing fields: genome editing, artificial intelligence and big data. 

̽��ֱ��Centre is a unique collaboration between the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Wellcome Connecting Science, with funding from ̽��ֱ��Kavli Foundation. Building on the close relationship between the ̽��ֱ�� and Wellcome Connecting Science, it will work with international partners and have a global view.

Cynthia Friend, President of the Kavli Foundation: “This is an exciting and innovative endeavour. Ensuring the public is meaningfully involved in ethical considerations born from scientific discovery is important. ̽��ֱ��vision, creativity, and global community of the Cambridge team impressed us.” 

Alongside inaugural Director Professor Anna Middleton, the Kavli Centre will be supported by Dr Richard Milne as Deputy Director and Lead for Research, and Dr Catherine Galloway as Lead for Innovation and Translation. 

̽��ֱ��Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public will be hosted within the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education as its primary base, with a physical presence at Wellcome Connecting Science premises on the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge. 

Today also sees the launch of a sister Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public at UC Berkeley in the USA. With a similar mission but an independent programme to its Cambridge counterpart, the Berkeley centre will initially address artificial intelligence, genome editing and neuroscience. ̽��ֱ��two centres may collaborate on key projects or events. 

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge announces the launch of the Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public, to engage publics and scientists with the ethical implications of scientific discovery and its impact on society.

̽��ֱ��Kavli Centers for Ethics, Science, and the Public

Wellcome Connecting Science

Anna Middleton, Director, Richard Milne, Deputy Director and Lead for Research, Catherine Galloway, Lead for Innovation and Translation - Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public

̽��ֱ��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

Professor Andrew Fabian awarded Kavli Prize

sc604 — Wed, 27 May 2020 13:15:00 +0000

Professor Fabian is one of seven scientists from five countries honoured for breakthrough discoveries in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.

̽��ֱ��Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters today announced the 2020 Kavli Prize Laureates in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. This year’s Kavli Prize honours scientists whose research has transformed our understanding of the very big, the very small and the very complex. ̽��ֱ��laureates in each field will share $1million USD.

“ ̽��ֱ��2020 Kavli Prize Laureates represent truly pioneering science, the kind of science which will benefit humanity in a profound way, inspiring both current and future generations,” says Hans Petter Graver, president of ̽��ֱ��Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

The Kavli Prize in Astrophysics is awarded to astronomer and astrophysicist Andrew Fabian for his pioneering research and persistence in pursuing the mystery of how black holes influence their surrounding galaxies on both large and small scales. For decades, researchers have pondered the mechanics and physical processes of galaxies, and many have made discoveries that point to aspects of their inner workings; yet none has the unique vantage point of Fabian: to take a multi-scale understanding and systematically know where to look to put the pieces of the puzzle together and create the bigger picture of this vast ecosystem.

In the current cosmological paradigm, the universe is a ‘living’ system, in which the flows of gas into galaxies and black holes at their centres, and the subsequent release of energy back into the galaxies and their surroundings, all play vital roles. As the darkest objects in the universe, black holes are observed as their gravity attracts surrounding gas, dust and stars, which swirl into them at high velocities, creating intense radiation, much of it X-rays. Observational X-ray astronomy opened up access to view these and other extremely hot and energetic components of the universe, providing stunning evidence for these processes at work, unveiling how the major constituents of the universe can profoundly influence its overall evolution.

Professor Fabian employs X-ray astronomy to explore the physics of the universe. His body of work – from understanding large-scale galactic evolution to the physics of black holes at the centres of galaxies – enabled him to make connections between local conditions around supermassive black holes and the larger gas flows within and between galaxies. This research provided evidence that supermassive black holes at the heart of galaxies are the engines that drive the flow of hot gas out of the galaxy, redistributing energy through the universe and providing the building blocks for future galaxy formation.

“Andrew Fabian is one of the most prolific and influential astronomers of our time,” said Viggo Hansteen, chair of the Kavli Prize Committee in Astrophysics. “His research, breadth of knowledge and insights into the universe provided the essential physical understanding of how disparate phenomena in this ecosystem are interconnected.”

This year’s Kavli Prize Laureates also include Professor Ondrej L Krivanek, an alumnus of Trinity College, Cambridge, who is now based in the United States. Professor Krivanek completed his PhD at the Cavendish Laboratory in 1975 under the supervision of Professor Archie Howie. He was awarded the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience, along with Harald Rose (Germany), Maximilian Haider (Austria), Knut Urban (Germany). Their work enabled humanity to see the structure and chemical composition of materials in three dimensions on unprecedentedly short length scales.

̽��ֱ��Kavli Prize is a partnership between ̽��ֱ��Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research and ̽��ֱ��Kavli Foundation (US). ̽��ֱ��Kavli Prize honours scientists for breakthroughs in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience that transform our understanding of the very big, the very small and the very complex. Three million-dollar prizes are awarded every other year in each of the three fields. ̽��ֱ��Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters selects the laureates based on recommendations from three prize committees whose members are nominated by ̽��ֱ��Chinese Academy of Sciences, ̽��ֱ��French Academy of Sciences, ̽��ֱ��Max Planck Society of Germany, ̽��ֱ��U.S. National Academy of Sciences and ̽��ֱ��UK’s Royal Society. First awarded in 2008, ̽��ֱ��Kavli Prize has honoured 54 scientists from 13 countries – Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, ̽��ֱ��Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

̽��ֱ��Kavli Prize Laureates are typically celebrated in Oslo, Norway, in a ceremony presided over by His Majesty King Harald followed by a banquet at the Oslo City Hall, the venue of the Nobel Peace Prize. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s award ceremony is postponed and will be held together with the 2022 award ceremony in September 2022.

Professor Andrew Fabian from Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy has been awarded the 2020 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics, one of the world's most prestigious science prizes.

Sam Fabian

Professor Andrew Fabian

Yes

New exoplanet think tank will ask the big questions about extra-terrestrial worlds

sc604 — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 08:44:25 +0000

With funding from ̽��ֱ��Kavli Foundation, the think tank will bring together some of the major researchers in exoplanetary science – arguably the most exciting field in modern astronomy – for a series of annual meetings to address the biggest questions in this field which humanity could conceivably answer in the next decade.

“We’re really at the frontier in exoplanet research,” said Dr Nikku Madhusudhan of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, who is leading the think tank. “ ̽��ֱ��pace of new discoveries is incredible – it really feels like anything can be discovered any moment in our exploration of extra-terrestrial worlds. By bringing together some of the best minds in this field we aim to consolidate our collective wisdom and address the biggest questions in this field that humanity can ask and answer at this time.”

Tremendous advances have been made in the study of exoplanets since the first such planet was discovered around a sun-like star in 1995 by the Cavendish Laboratory’s Professor Didier Queloz. Just last month, a potentially habitable world was discovered in our own neighbourhood, orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the sun.

However, there are still plenty questions to be answered, such as whether we’re capable of detecting signatures of life on other planets within the next ten years, what the best strategies are to find habitable planets, how diverse are planets and their atmospheres, and how planets form in the first place.

With at least four space missions and numerous large ground-based facilities scheduled to become operational in the next decade, exoplanetary scientists will be able to detect more and more exoplanets, and will also have the ability to conduct detailed studies of their atmospheres, interiors, and formation conditions. At the same time, major developments are expected in all aspects of exoplanetary theory and data interpretation.

In order to make these major advances in the field, new interdisciplinary approaches are required. Additionally, as new scientific questions and areas emerge at an increasingly fast pace, there is a need for a focused forum where emerging questions in frontier areas of the field can be discussed. “Given the exciting advancements in exoplanetary science now is the right time to assess the state of the field and the scientific challenges and opportunities on the horizon,” said Professor Andy Fabian, director of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge.

̽��ֱ��think tank will operate in the form of a yearly Exoplanet Symposium series which will be focused on addressing pressing questions in exoplanetary science. One emerging area or theme in exoplanetary science will be chosen each year based on its critical importance to the advancement of the field, relevance to existing or imminent observational facilities, need for an interdisciplinary approach, and/or scope for fundamental breakthroughs.

About 30 experts in the field from around the world will discuss outstanding questions, new pathways, interdisciplinary synergies, and strategic actions that could benefit the exoplanet research community.

̽��ֱ��inaugural symposium, “Kavli ExoFrontiers 2016”, is being held this week in Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��goal of this first symposium is to bring together experts from different areas of exoplanetary science to share their visions about the most pressing questions and future outlook of their respective areas. These visions will help provide both a broad outlook of the field and identify the ten most important questions in the field that could be addressed within the next decade. “We hope the think tank will provide a platform for new breakthroughs in the field through interdisciplinary and international efforts while bringing the most important scientific questions of our time to the fore,” said Madhusudhan. “We are in the golden age of exoplanetary science.”

More information about the Kavli ExoFrontiers 2016 Symposium is available at: www.ast.cam.ac.uk/meetings/2016/kavli.exofrontiers.2016.symposium

An international exoplanet ‘think tank’ is meeting this week in Cambridge to deliberate on the ten most important questions that humanity could answer in the next decade about planets outside our solar system.

We’re really at the frontier in exoplanet research.

Nikku Madhusudhan

ESO/M. Kornmesser

Artist’s impression of the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 from the surface of one of its planets

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes