Tag: physics

TEDxBrum… what happened.

Posted by on in networking events

On 11th June, Impact Hub Birmingham hosted the fourth TEDxBrum event at Birmingham Town Hall, with the theme for 2016 being “Power Of Us”. TEDx events are independently organised gatherings with local speakers and performers as well as screenings of TED talks, intended to bring communities together and present them with “ideas worth spreading” in the spirit of the original TED talks (with TED standing for Technology, Entertainment, Design).

The University of Birmingham were a major sponsor of this event, and several of our academic staff were invited to speak about their research. Professors Alberto Vecchio and Andreas Freise from the School of Physics and Astronomy took to the stage to explain the significance of the recent discovery of gravitational waves, followed by Dr Neeraj Lal from the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences who spoke about his pioneering research into the use of immunotherapy to fight bowel cancer.

Other high-profile speakers included Simon Willis, the European Managing Director of the website change.org, and Sacha Romanovitch, CEO of Grant Thornton UK LLP, while the performers included Midlands singer Mahalia, Kathak dancer Vidya Patel, and The People’s Orchestra.

The University’s gravitational waves research group were also well represented in the exhibition space, running a very successful stand to explain their research to people interested in finding out more following the main talk. They were even approached during the day by both an artist and a documentary maker interested in engaging with them on different outreach projects, making this an even more exciting time for the group.

The day was a tremendous success, with a buzzing atmosphere in the Town Hall and the hashtag #PowerOfUS trending nationally on Twitter. The University are proud to have played a part in this event and hope to strengthen our relationship with Impact Hub Birmingham and TedX in the future.

For more information please contact Andy Newnham, Business Engagement Partner, a.newnham@bham.ac.uk

Special Event: Astrophysics & Space Research Group invite you to celebrate exciting Gravitational Waves discovery

Posted by on in Upcoming opportunities

Dear friends of the University of Birmingham Observatory,

Many of you will have seen the exciting news about the hunt for gravitational waves. For those of you who have not—can you stay spoiler free until Wednesday? The University of Birmingham, alongside colleagues around the world, have played an important role in the work of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and we would like to share the latest news with you all!

On Wednesday 17 February we are holding a special event. We will have talks followed by a question and answer session with our local experts. There will, of course, be the chance to chat with our researchers and enjoy some of our science demonstrations afterwards. Talks will start at 7 pm, so please arrive a little before then.

As for all the events organised by the Astrophysics & Space Research Group, this is event is free, but we ask you to register

https://gravitationalwaves.eventbrite.co.uk

We expert that this will be extremely popular, so please do sign up promptly to avoid disappointment!

This is an exciting time, and a special occasion as we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of general relativity (and Einstein’s prediction of gravitational waves). We have been marking this in our regular Astronomy in the City events, the final one for this season will be 9 March when Dr Graham Smith will be talking about Einstein’s greatest blunder. More details can be found on the Astronomy in the City website

http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php

We hope that you will enjoy discovering the fantastic work done here in Birmingham (and across the world).

Best regards,

Christopher Berry

For further information regarding the…

Dr Christopher Berry: Dr Christopher Berry’s blog