WORLDS COLLIDE III – Debrief!

WORLDS COLLIDE III

This past week on May 23rd, 2018 we were joined by artist Charlotte Jarvis, who facilitated our interdisciplinary ‘WORLDS COLLIDE’ mixer event for UoB researchers and external creatives.

Charlotte has collaborated with scientists on public engagement projects and currently lectures at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College. Charlotte has seen her own heart beat outside of her body, grown her own cancer in a dish and recorded music onto DNA!

The evening was spent exploring public engagement collaborations between scientists, artists, creatives, academics and curious organisms of all varieties. Public engagement opportunities were investigated across sectors, and their value was debated, before workshop attendees had a go at developing ‘mock proposals’ for collaborative public engagement projects focused around key societal challenges/opportunities e.g. Big Data, Genetic Engineering, AI etc. Some really inspiring ideas were concocted!

This was the third event we’ve run now and previous events have already led to real-life collaborations between artists and researchers in Dentistry and Physics.

If you didn’t make it to this last event, have no fear as WORLDS COLLIDE IV is headed your way this July! This next event will have a biomedical focus, however regardless of your research area you are very, very welcome to come along. We are also going to be thinking about a future event themed around arts and humanities research in particular, though we stress again that the whole point of these events is to mix researchers from across disciplines as the connections and synergies which sometimes arise can be really uncanny and inspiring!

Watch out for the June edition of our newsletter, when we’ll have the date, location and further details ready for you!

LAPWORTH LATES (Thursday July 19th, 2018) – Live for registration now!

We are pleased to be initiating the first ever Lapworth Lates event on the evening of Thursday 19th of July, 2018. The Lapworth Museum of Geology will throw open its doors for an evening of performance, workshops, interactive demos and more, all aimed at a curious adult audience. Coinciding with a new exhibition in July on ‘Dinosaurs in Popular Culture’, this first Late event will draw inspiration from this theme as well as the wider museum collection and research at the University.

Funding from the Alumni Fund is allowing us work alongside a small interdisciplinary team of postgraduate students who are helping us programme activities and we are also extremely pleased to have been able to commission two artists for one-night-only spectaculars…

Expect a truly magical and immersive night especially of interest to those who enjoy the intersection between science and art. If you’ve never visited the Lapworth before, let this be your excuse and we are certain you’ll want to come back! The event is open to everyone and is free, so mark the date in your diary now and bring along your partners, friends or colleagues! Eventbrite link to register HERE.

Researcher registrations are now CLOSED, but if you want to help us or have any idea please get in touch with engage@contacts.bham.ac.uk – We’d love to hear from you. 

The Poetry of the Periodic Table – Thinktank, Birmingham, 9 November

What happens when you bring together a chemist researcher and a poet who has written pieces of work inspired by the periodic table?

Find out at The Poetry of the Periodic Table!

Little Atoms presents the second of our Two Cultures In Conversation evenings. Join award-winning poet Isobel Dixon and Dr Zoe Schnepp of the University of Birmingham to explore the elementary, from Arsenic to Zirconium. Birmingham’s Thinktank provide’s the perfect location for a night where we use poetry and science to examine the stuff that makes up our world.

Local poetry publisher the Emma Press will create specially commissioned illustration and poetry to mark what will be a truly unusual evening.

REGISTER FREE VIA EVENTBRITE