Academics Unplugged

Academics Unplugged is an opportunity for researchers to introduce their work to staff and students from across the College. These short talks provide the opportunity for University staff and students to engage directly with cutting-edge researchers.

There are over a thousand researchers working across the King’s Buildings campus. And yet, much of the time, the rest of us are unaware of their work, how it relates to other research, or how it may meet the challenges in contemporary society.

The format of the talks

The talks take place between 1.10pm and 1.50pm, several times each semester on the King’s Buildings campus (currently online). Each takes the form of a twenty-minute presentation, followed by the opportunity for the audience to discuss the subject further with the speaker. Links to further information on the speakers’ areas of interest will be provided through this webpage, so that you can delve into the subjects in more detail.

Upcoming talks

Photo	Date	Title and detail	Venue	Links
	TBC	TBC	TBC

Previous talks

Date	Title and detail	Links
01 April 2021	How can we see what's going on inside a cell? A new approach to super-resolution imaging. Professor Lynne Regan School of Biological Sciences	Watch a video of this talk
25 March 2021	Deep Learning: what could go wrong? Prof Des Higham School of Mathematics	Watch a video of this talk
18 March 2021	The true final frontier: oceans from space Dr Encarni Medina-Lopez Institute for Infrastructure and Environment School of Engineering	Watch a video of this talk
11 March 2021	Atlantic Adventures with ATLAS: understanding deep-sea ecosystems at ocean basin scale Professor Murray Roberts, School of GeoSciences/ATLAS	Project website BBC News report ATLAS Results Compendium ATLAS Science/Policy overview Watch a video of this talk
10 December 2020	The smallest astronauts: how can microorganisms support us in space? Dr Rosa Santomartino, UK Centre for Astrobiology, School of Physics and Astronomy	UK Centre for Astrobiology Watch a video of this talk
5 December 2019	Engineering Biology: programming cells to compute, sense and manufacture. Dr Baojun Wang, School of Biological Sciences	The Wang Lab Baojun's Edinburgh Research Explorer page
28 November 2019	Putting Edinburgh in Space: developing the University's Space and Satellite innovation programme. Dr Murray Collins, School of GeoSciences
24 October 2019	Artificial Intelligence versus Us: building explainability and ethical responsibility into automated systems Dr Vaishak Belle, Centre for Intelligent Systems and their Applications, School of Informatics	Vaishak's website Watch a video of this talk
28 March 2019	Cocaine on banknotes: how strong is the evidence? Dr Amy Wilson, Centre for Statistics, School of Mathematics	Amy's profile Edinburgh Research Explorer page
14 March 2019	Soft materials for energy applications: how squidgy materials can help make better batteries Dr Job Thijssen, School of Physics & Astronomy	Job's profile Edinburgh Research Explorer page Research in a Nutshell Video
28 February 2019	Lab grown human eggs: a new way to preserve fertility Professor Evelyn Telfer, Institute of Cell Biology and CDBS, School of Biological Sciences	Watch a video of this talk Evelyn's profile Edinburgh Research Explorer page
7 February 2019	'A World in a Grain of Sand': why the particular matters Professsor Jason Reese, Institute for Multiscale Thermofluids, School of Engineering	Edinburgh Research Explorer page
6 December 2018	Learning from Vikings: archaeological lessons for 21^st century climate change adaptation Professor Andy Dugmore - Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences	Watch a video of this talk Andy's Research In a Nutshell video Andy's staff profile Related articles: Disequilibrium, Adaptation, and the Norse Settlement of Greenland Rediscovering lessons of adaptation from the past Medieval Iceland, Greenland, and the New Human Condition: A case study in integrated environmental humanities Climate challenges, vulnerabilities, and food security Cultural adaptation, compounding vulnerabilities and conjunctures in Norse Greenland (pdf)
15 November 2018	Catching the Rainbow: Solar Energy for photovoltaics Professor Neil Robertson - School of Chemistry (Prof. of Molecular Materials).	Neil's profile page The Robertson Group
29 March 2018	Catching Cosmic Cataclysms: the new field of gravitational wave astronomy Dr Jonathan Gair - School of Mathematics	Jonathan's personal page Watch a video of this talk
22 March 2018	Seeing speech: ultrasound imaging for child speech therapy Dr Korin Richmond	Korin's personal page Ultrax website
15 Feb 2018	Optical Imaging: From Glass to Humans Professor Mark Bradley (Professor of High-Throughput Chemical Biology)	Bradley Research Group
25 Jan 2018	TIBA: Why all the hype? Professor Francisca Mutapi Professor (Global Health Infection and Immunity) Deputy Director TIBA partnership	Francisca's Research in a Nutshell video TIBA Parasite Immuno-epidemiology Group
30 Nov 2017	The Leidenfrost Engine: from lifetime drops to powering life on Mars Professor Khellil Sefiane Chair of Thermophysical Engineering, School of Engineering	Khellil's personal webpage Khellil's Research in a Nutshell video
9 Nov 2017	The Great Dying: What happened 250 million years ago? Professor Rachel Wood Professor of Carbonate Geoscience, School of GeoSciences	Rachel's personal webpage Rachel's Research in a Nutshell video
30 March 2017	Asteroid and comet impacts: why microbes don't care, but you should Prof Charles Cockell	UK Centre for Astrobiology Charles's Research in a Nutshell video
2 March 2017	The Edinburgh Genome Foundry: Bringing robots to life and vice versa Hille Tekotte	Edinburgh Genome Foundry
2 February 2017	Synthetic speech: the nice (giving a voice to people who can't speak) and the not-so-nice (hacking your bank account). Prof Simon King (Informatics / PPLS) Director of the Centre for Speech Technology Research	Centre for Speech Technology Research
26 January 2017	The Greening Arctic: how the changing tundra is influencing the planet Dr Isla Myers-Smith Chancellor's Fellow, School of GeoSciences	Team Shrub Research Isla's esearch in a Nutshell video
1 December 2016	Urban Gold Mining: using chemistry to recover resources Professor Jason Love Professor of Molecular Inorganic Chemistry	Personal webpage Jason's Research in a Nutshell video
3 November 2016	Liquid Crystal Lasers: from displays to anti-counterfeiting and biomedical imaging Dr Philip Hands Chancellor's Fellow, School of Engineering	Personal webpage Philip's Research in a Nutshell video
17 March 2016	Major transitions in evolution: how did a dinosaur change into a bird? Dr Steve Brusatte Chancellor’s Fellow, School of GeoSciences	Personal webpage Steve's Research in a Nutshell
25 February 2016	Multiphase fluid mechanics = Math + Phy + Eng + Bio + Chem + Big Data: an interdisciplinary melting pot Dr Prashant Valluri Senior Lecturer, School of Engineering	Personal webpage Prashant's Research in a Nutshell
28 January 2016	Antimicrobial resistance: how can physicists help? Dr Rosalind Allen Royal Society University Research Fellow and Reader, School of Physics & Astronomy	Personal webpage
3 December 2015	Modelling Chemical Reactions (is chemistry really just a branch of mathematics?) Dr Carole Morrison Reader, School of Chemistry	Structural Chemistry Carole's Research in a Nutshell video
19 November 2015	Informatics Challenges in Biology: from big data to big models Dr Guido Sanguinetti Reader, School of Informatics	Machine Learning Techniques Guido's Research in a Nutshell video
5 November 2015	The Edinburgh Genome Foundry: making synthetic chromosomes from the ground up Dr Patrick Yizhi Cai Chancellor’s Fellow, School of Biological Sciences

Future events

Further talks will be planned in due course; details will be posted on this page when available. For further information about this event series, please contact peter.reid@ed.ac.uk.

This article was published on 24 Nov, 2021