Public lecture podcasts

Cellulose, one of nature's most abundant polymers, is produced in significant quantities in many farmed crops. Yet it is not a human food source - so the use of cellulose in high value materials does not compete with, but potentially complements, food production. This lecture covered work afoot at the University's Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies into processing cellulose into high value materials that gives access to renewably-derived recyclable materials with a range of diverse applications.

Roger Martin, Chair of Population Matters, delivers a lecture for the Institute for our Institute for Sustainable Energy & the Environment considering population growth and the environment.

Dr Momna Hejmadi, Dr Andrew Chalmers and Dr Lorenzo Caggiano summarise some of the latest developments in cancer research. This lecture was delivered as part of our MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), 'Inside Cancer: how genes influence cancer development'. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/inside-cancer

In this Inaugural lecture, Professor Simone Fullagar offers a sociocultural perspective on health, sport and active embodiment, to consider why and how the promotion of certain ideals of physical and mental health are not always 'good' for us. At the heart of this lecture are biopolitical and feminist questions concerning the complex effects of power relations (inequities relating to gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, age, disability) on our embodied experiences health and well-being. How might we begin to think differently about health to explore other kinds of embodied practices, desires and possibilities for social transformation?

In this Inaugural lecture, Professor Simone Fullagar offers a sociocultural perspective on health, sport and active embodiment, to consider why and how the promotion of certain ideals of physical and mental health are not always ‘good’ for us. At the heart of this lecture are biopolitical and feminist questions concerning the complex effects of power relations (inequities relating to gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, age, disAbility) on our embodied experiences health and well-being. How might we begin to think differently about health to explore other kinds of embodied practices, desires and possibilities for social transformation?

In this IPR Public Lecture, Professor Robert H. Wade - Professor of Political Economy at the LSE - builds on Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis' dictum "We must make our choice. We may have democracy or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both". Professor Wade reports on recent evidence on the degree of income concentration at the top of OECD countries and the political costs of inequality, and asks: how should social democratic movements appeal for public support in the context of the representational bias in favour of the wealthy? This IPR Public Lecture took place on 19 November 2013

In this inaugural lecture, Professor Nigel Wilding explores the computer simulation of changes of state in models for atoms and complex molecules. Predicting the phase behaviour of a material is a central goal of condensed matter science, and a pre-requisite for designing new materials with tailored or novel phase behaviour. Professor Wilding’s lecture outlined how computer simulation of phase behaviour now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with traditional approaches of experimental and analytical theory. He talk focuses on one particularly powerful and flexible computational technique called ‘Monte Carlo simulation’.

In this IPR Public Lecture Professor David Stasavage - Julius Silver Professor and Chair in the Wilf Family Department of Politics at New York University - discusses his latest book: Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe. The book, and the lecture, draw on unparalleled evidence from 20 countries over the last two centuries to provide the broadest and most in-depth history of progressive taxation available. Stasavage explores the intellectual and political debates surrounding the taxation of the wealthy while also providing a detailed examination of when taxes have been levied against the rich and when they haven't. Fairness in debates about taxing the rich has depended on different views of what it means to treat people as equals and whether taxing the rich advances or undermines this norm. He argues that governments don't tax the rich just because inequality is high or rising—they do it when people believe that such taxes compensate for the state unfairly privileging the wealthy. This IPR Public Lecture took place on 14 April 2016

In this lecture, Professor Mike Threadgill explores the influences and inspirations that have led him to a career in academic medicinal chemistry and reviewed the research of his team over the years. Mike's work focuses on the application of medicinal chemistry for the development of new agents for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This has led him to becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and an Honorary Fellow of the Indian Society for Chemists and Biologists.

Concerns about the gap between management research and management practice are long-standing and well-documented. Management practices do not seem to be based firmly on research evidence and the research produced by management researchers has limited impact on management practice. In his inaugural lecture, Professor Rob Briner argues that this gap is difficult to close and remains an intractable problem mainly because nobody is to blame. So, how can these barriers be overcome? What are the benefits and potential costs of narrowing the gap and increasing the use of evidence in management practice? View a video and slideshow of this lecture here: http://uniofbath.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=f2b9c825-4d91-490d-b169-65c47ca93526