Lord Mayor’s Lecture | How Will We Be Long? – How Can A Piece Of Music Help Us Think About The Next Thousand Years?

Background:

As a Longplayer trustee, my role is to help us think through what our long view might be. Here I will recount some of our thinking and ideas from over the years.

Longplayer helps us ask many questions about our world and our role in its future. It helps frame questions that are much bigger than us — but they are not ‘infinite’. The time-bound nature of the project leads to many different questions: what might be happening in the future? what might our role be? what might our impact be? how might we communicate across 40 generations (if a generation is 25 years)? what will be happening on its fifth thousand-year loop?

Speaker:

Gavin Starks helps solve complex, multidisciplinary, collective-action challenges. He has co-created over a dozen organisations: building multidisciplinary teams fit for a digital age to explore the impact of data on business, society and culture. He founded and now runs IcebreakerOne.org, making data work harder to deliver a Net Zero Future.

His work spans data infrastructure, policy, science, media, communications and innovation, including as co-Chair of the Open Banking Standard; founding-CEO of the Open Data Institute; advisor to the Financial Conduct Authority (Open Finance); advisor to the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence; Guardian Council member at Yoti (digital identity); Trustee at Blue Ventures (marine conservation); Chairman at Demand Logic; Board member at Spherics; Chairman at Provenance.org (blockchain); Non-exec at CupClub (circular-economy); Chairman at Rinse Media Group. He regularly provides strategic advice to governments, regulators and intergovernmental organisations around the world. He converted a century-old cargo ship to live aboard and built a cooperative historic harbour on the Thames to put it on.

Register for the free online lecture here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/2641359416666807129

Lord Mayor’s Lecture | A Tour of London, Science City, 1550–1800

Background:

In 1550, London was a rapidly expanding commercial city, yet with a relatively modest position on the world stage. By 1800, it was a global city – and also a world-leading centre of science. In this talk, Science Museum curator Alexandra Rose will take you on a tour of the early modern city, revealing how science was central to its remarkable transformation. Our journey through the city will be brought to life by surviving scientific instruments from this period, preserved in the collections of the Science Museum, Royal Society and Kings College London, and which are currently on display in the Museum’s gallery, Science City 1550–1800.

Speaker:

Dr Alexandra Rose is Curator of Earth Sciences and Astronomy at the Science Museum in London. She lead-curated Science City 1550–1800: The Linbury Gallery, which opened in 2019, and coauthored its accompanying book Science City: Craft, Commerce and Curiosity in London, 1550–1800 (Scala). Her other exhibitions at the Science Museum have included Unlocking Lovelock: Scientist, Inventor, Maverick (2014) and Atmosphere: Exploring Climate Science (2010). Her research interests include history of earth sciences, scientific instruments, and the role of museums in engaging publics with climate change and environmental issues. She is a Freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company.

Register for the free online lecture here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8480751322050667097

Lord Mayor’s Lecture | Why The Wreck Of The Gloucester In 1682 Matters: The Secrets Of A Restoration Warship

Background:

The finding of the Gloucester can legitimately be called the most important event for British maritime history since the Mary Rose was located in 1971 and raised in 1982. This talk will outline the sensational history of the wreck of the Gloucester in 1682 with James, Duke of York and Albany, and the heir presumptive onboard, and it discusses the significance of the ship’s foundering for British history.

Speaker:

Professor Claire Jowitt is Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of East Anglia and is historical lead on The Gloucester Project. She is Principal Investigator on the Leverhulme Trust Project grant ‘Wreck of the Gloucester: The Life and Times of a c17 Third Rate English Warship’ (2021-24). She joined UEA in 2015 as Associate Dean for Research for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and served in that position until 2022. She is grant holder for UEA’s Arts and Humanities Research Council Impact Acceleration Account and a Trustee of the Sainsbury Centre. She has published seven books and more than fifty essays and chapters on maritime history and culture and travel writing studies. She is a General Editor of the new Oxford University Press edition of Richard Hakluyt’s The Principal Navigations (1598−1600), co-edits Amsterdam University Press’s Maritime Humanities 1400−1800: Cultures of the Sea book series, and she is currently an elected member and Trustee of the Council of the Hakluyt Society and the Society for Nautical Research.

Register for the free online lecture here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8239934086287573340

Lord Mayor’s Lecture | How Air Pollution Causes Lung Cancer In Never-Smokers Via A Therapeutically Targetable Inflammatory Mechanism

Background:

A mechanistic basis for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) initiation in never smokers, a disease with high frequency EGFR mutations (EGFRm), is unknown. Air pollution particulate matter (PM) is known to be associated with the risk of NSCLC, however a direct cause and mechanism remain elusive.

Methods

We analysed 463,679 individuals to address the associations of increasing 2.5um PM (PM2.5) concentrations with cancer risk. We performed ultra-deep profiling of 247 normal lung tissue samples, analysed normal lung tissue from humans and mice following exposures to PM, and investigated the consequences of PM in mouse lung cancer models.

Results

Increasing PM2.5 levels are associated with increased risk of EGFRm NSCLC in England, S.Korea and Taiwan and with increased risk of mesothelioma, lung, n UK Biobank (HR>1.1 for each 1ug/m3 PM2.5 increment). 18-53% of normal lung tissue samples harbour driver mutations in EGFR and KRAS in the absence of malignancy. PM promotes a macrophage response and a progenitor-like state in lung epithelium harbouring mutant EGFR. Consistent with PM promoting NSCLC in at-risk epithelium harbouring driver mutations, PM accelerates tumourigenesis in three EGFR or KRAS driven lung cancer models in a dose-dependent manner. Finally, we uncover an actionable inflammatory axis driven by IL1B in response to PM, in agreement with reductions in lung cancer incidence with anti-IL1B therapy.

Conclusions

These data reveal a mechanistic basis for PM driven lung cancer in the absence of classical carcinogen-driven mutagenesis, reminiscent of models of tumour initiation and promotion proposed 70 years ago, providing an urgent mandate to limit air pollution, revealing opportunities for molecular targeted cancer prevention.

Speaker:

Professor Charles Swanton MBPhD, FRCP, FMedSci, FAACR, FRS completed his MBPhD training in 1999 at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories and Cancer Research UK clinician scientist/medical oncology training in 2008. He is a senior Principal Investigator of the Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, and Deputy clinical director at the Francis Crick Institute and combines his research with clinical duties at UCLH, as a thoracic oncologist, focussed on how tumours evolve over space and time. His research branched evolutionary histories of solid tumours, processes that drive cancer cell-to-cell variation in the form of new cancer mutations or chromosomal instabilities, and the impact of such cancer diversity on effective immune surveillance and clinical outcome. Charles is chief investigator of TRACERx, a lung cancer evolutionary study and the national PEACE autopsy program, and about to start with TRACERx EVO.

Charles was made Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in April 2011, appointed Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2015, awarded the Napier Professorship in Cancer by the Royal Society in 2016, appointed Cancer Research UK’s Chief Clinician in 2017, elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2018, Fellow of the Academy of the American Association for Cancer Research in 2020s, and Deputy Clinical Director of the Francis Crick Institute this year. He is an editorial board member of Cell, Plos Medicine, Cancer Discovery and Annals of Oncology and an advisory board member for Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology and Cancer Cell. In 2016 he co-founded Achilles Therapeutics, a UCL/CRUK/Francis Crick Institute spin-out company, assessing the efficacy of T cells targeting clonal neoantigens.

Charles has been awarded several prizes including the Stand up to Cancer Translational Cancer Research Prize (2015), GlaxoSmithkline Biochemical Society Prize (2016), San Salvatore prize for Cancer Research (2017) and the Ellison-Cliffe Medal, Royal Society of Medicine (2017), recipient of the Gordon Hamilton Fairley Medal (2018), Massachusetts General Hospital, Jonathan Kraft Prize for Excellence in Cancer Research (May 2018), the ESMO Award for Translational Cancer Research (2019), Addario Lung Cancer Foundation Award and Lectureship, International Lung Cancer Congress (July 2020), the Weizmann Institute Sergio Lombroso Award in Cancer Research (2021), International Society of Liquid Biopsy (ISLB) Research Award (2021), the Memorial Sloan Kettering Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research (2021), UCLH Celebrating Excellence Award for Contribution to World Class Research (2022), Inductee to OncLive’s Giants of Cancer Care awards program (2023), SpringerNature CDD Award (2023).

Register for the free online lecture here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5778498088644853088

Lord Mayor’s Lecture | What’s Happening To Religion In England?

Background:

In a broad narrative of decline in religious practice in contemporary England, the place of the Christian faith is surprisingly prominent in what is viewed by many as a secular democracy. Whether in Parliament, the Crown or the City, much of British ceremonial life has a religious underpinning. Why do these traditions persist, and how are they evidenced in public religion? How do individuals square their own religious beliefs with the demands of a secular workplace?

Speaker:

The Very Reverend Andrew Tremlett has been Dean of St Paul’s since September 2022 and leads the Cathedral’s spiritual and operational life, as well as representing St Paul’s in the City and beyond. He was Dean of Durham from 2016 to 2022 and established the Durham Cathedral School’s Foundation, which educates 700 pupils and provides Chorister places for 24 boys and 24 girls on an equal and needs-blind basis. He was previously based in London between 2010 and 2016 when he was Rector of St Margaret’s Church, Archdeacon of Westminster and Sub-Dean of Westminster Abbey. In 2012 he established the Westminster Abbey Institute, working with Public Service Institutions and Parliament Square to support ethics in public life.

Andrew was born in Devon, has family ties to Belgium and Holland. Following time as port Chaplain in Rotterdam, he is a trustee for the global maritime charity ‘The Mission to Seafarers’. He is married to the Revd Prof Maggi Dawn, who teaches and researches at Durham University.

Register for the free online lecture here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/4245795371263590237

Lord Mayor’s Lecture | Chemistry For A Sustainable World

Background:

Sustainable Chemistry is both the implementation of sustainability in the production, use and fate of chemicals (Green Chemistry) and the application of chemistry and chemical products to enable sustainable development. The UN Sustainable Development Goals provide a framework for the creation of a sustainable common future, in which all the world’s needs are met without compromising the abilities of future generations to provide for their needs. The chemical sciences and chemical scientists have much to offer to all of the SDGs. In this talk Professor Tom Welton OBE FRSC FCGI will explore how chemistry is currently contributing to achieving the SDGs, some of the challenges to still be faced and the research that is being conducted to overcome those challenges.

Speaker:

Professor Tom Welton is Professor of Sustainable Chemistry at Imperial College London and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Ambassador for Sustainable Chemistry Policy. Prior to this he was Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College (2014-2019), and before that Head of the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College (2007-2014).

Sustainable chemistry, Tom’s research area, combines the implementation of sustainability in the production use and fate of chemicals and the application of chemistry and chemical products to enable sustainable development. It encompasses a range of activities, such as making biodegradable products, sourcing chemicals from renewable resources and/or making chemicals processes more efficient in energy and materials.

Solvents are used in vast amounts. Hence, the development of sustainable solvent technologies is a priority. He has worked with ionic liquids throughout his career. The central academic aim of his research is to understand and exploit how the bulk properties of ionic liquids arise from the molecular properties and interactions of their constituent ions. This extends to their use as reaction solvents and the role that the immediate chemical environments they provide to reacting solutes influence the reaction process. Much of his work seeks to develop methodologies for the production of chemical products from biomass. He is the author of over 160 papers across inorganic, organic and physical chemistry.

He is widely acknowledged to be a champion of diversity in science. In recognition of these activities, he was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2017.

Register for the free online lecture here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8781649171641613406

Lord Mayor’s Lecture | Why Has Nobody Ever Told Me This? Initiating Sustainability & Success In SMEs

Background:

Through extensive research on his MBA (1992, Open University) and PhD (2022, Sheffield Hallam) into the dynamics behind training and development programmes for small and midsize enterprises (SMEs), Dr Glyn Cartwright increasingly recognised a frustrating lack of relevant evidence offered to SME professionals and leaders attending these courses. A core problem lies in the offer of a significant amount of business information that resulted in a low level of understanding, rarely stimulating students to take action in their own practice areas.

Comparing this to the two Erasmus programmes and UKCES programmes Glyn had written and delivered in the UK and Europe, which all resulted in the delegates taking interventions into their businesses to improve the chances of success. The objective of the research was to identify what needed to change for these training programmes offered to SME leaders to help them understand their current situation and potential future options.

The outcomes were both interesting and a little surprising: The most common feedback Glyn received throughout the whole process was “why has nobody ever told me this?”.

Speaker:

Dr Glyn Cartwright first trained as a teacher and later entered the corporate world via sales. During a successful 25 years he progressed as Sales Director, Marketing Director, Managing Director and CEO of various brand leading companies, primarily in the construction products area. For the last 15 years Glyn has owned his own companies and is now operationally involved in 5 organisations operating in over 30 countries around the world.

After completing his Marketing degree, Glyn gained an MBA in 1992 from the Open University and completed a Doctorate in Business Growth with Sheffield Hallam University in January 2022. He has tutored MBA and MSc Business students for the Open University and the University of Sheffield for the last 20 years. He co-wrote an online business assessment programme that was featured on BBC2’s “Working Lunch”. In 2002 he was awarded a Fellowship of the Charted Institute of Marketers in recognition of his contribution to the field. In 2014 Glyn became a Liveryman with the Worshipful Company of Marketors and a Freeman of the City of London in 2015. He became Master of the Worshipful Company of Marketors in 2023.

In his spare time Glyn has co-authored and delivered the Erasmus funded European Business Growth Catalyst Programme, in partnership with The University of Sheffield, ESADE Business School in Spain and Alba University in Greece, which has been cited as a “success story” by Erasmus because of the impact it has had on SMEs. More recently Glyn has co-authored and delivered another Erasmus programme targeting disadvantaged SMEs. He also wrote and delivered a UKCES ‘leadership and entrepreneurship’ programme in partnership with Doncaster Council and Doncaster Chamber of Commerce.

Register for the free online lecture here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1612266010478045024

Lord Mayor’s Lecture | What Does Quantum Computing Mean For Cybersecurity?

Background:

Quantum computing promises a massive increase in processing power, opening up a world of calculations the like of which we have never seen before. We’ll be able to solve global problems by crunching data much more quickly. But this new era also threatens to crack the encryption algorithms used to secure our private messages and financial transactions. This lecture explores how the business world can rise to this challenge, and the potential impact of quantum computing on other aspects of cybersecurity, including real time automated defence.

Speaker:

Professor Victoria Baines is a leading authority in the field of online trust, safety and cybersecurity. She frequently contributes to major broadcast media outlets – BBC Newsnight, Radio 4, and Sky News among them – on digital ethics, cybercrime, and the misuse of emerging technologies such as Extended Reality and Artificial Intelligence. Her most memorable media appearance to date was a live face-off with Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain, which she maintains she won.

She is Professor of Information Technology at Gresham College, London’s oldest higher education institution, where she is responsible for delivering public lectures that demystify world-changing technologies for ‘ordinary’ people. Victoria has published on cyberspace governance, online surveillance, the future of cybercrime, and the politics of security. Drawing on her Classical education, her book Rhetoric of Insecurity (Routledge, 2021) sheds light on 2000 years of security speech and is a toolkit for understanding why security issues always seem to be so novel, urgent and divisive.

For several years Victoria was Facebook’s Trust & Safety Manager for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Before joining Facebook, Victoria led the Strategy team at Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), where she was responsible for the EU’s cyber threat analysis. Prior to this, Victoria was Principal Analyst at the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre. She began her career in law enforcement as a Higher Intelligence Analyst for Surrey Police. In 2008, the International Association for Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts recognised Victoria’s work with a global award for outstanding achievement.

She is co-host of the award-nominated Cyber Warrior Princess podcast, explaining cybersecurity for a popular audience. She regularly addresses both specialist and non-specialist audiences and has been named as one of the top 25 women in cybersecurity (IT Guru & SC Magazine). She is a Liveryman of the City of London and Chair of the Security Panel of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, the voice of the IT industry in the City. She serves on the Advisory Boards of Snapchat, cybersecurity provider Reliance ACSN, and is a trustee of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

Victoria is a graduate of Trinity College, Oxford and holds a doctorate from the University of Nottingham. She is a Senior Research Associate of the Intellectual Forum at Jesus College, Cambridge, and Senior Research Fellow at the British Foreign Policy Group. From 2017 to 2020 she was a Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford University and was a guest lecturer at Stanford University in 2019 and 2020.

Register for the free online lecture here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/825801835868331861

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