In a special conversation event, we chart hip hop’s first five decades, from its birth in the block parties of the Bronx and origins in Jamaica, to commercial gangsta-rap and right up to today’s artists. We discuss how this American revolution in music, dance, and art spread across the global cultural landscape. Hear four speakers passionately bring to life the culture and music – but also political theory, American history, and sociology. With our own sub-genres here in the UK, we’ll look at the key moments that led to this country’s enthusiastic embrace and interpretation of hip-hop, particularly by Afro-Caribbean communities.

Part of Futures – a free festival of discovery that celebrates innovative and world-class research taking place at universities across the South West. It’s funded by the UKRI.

SPEAKERS

MYKAELL RILEY

Senior Lecturer

College of Design, Creative & Digital Industries

University of Westminster.

Mykaell is Director of The Black Music Research Unit (BMRU), and senior researcher and curator at the University of Westminster.

Central to Mykaell’s research is his work on mapping Black British music. Bass Culture is a response to the disengagement and lack of education surrounding the heritage of Jamaican and Jamaican-influenced music in Britain over the last six decades. Mykaell’s career started as a founder member of the British roots Reggae band Steel Pulse who would go onto receive a Grammy. Over the years he has performed, produced, managed and consulted on many successful artists and their projects. As a professional writer/producer, Mykaell’s work has encompassed TV, Film and Theatre, resulting in over eleven UK top twenty positions, and three UK number ones.

LIZZIE BOWES

Research Associate

Black Music Research Unit

Universities of Westminster and Bristol

Lizzie Bowes is Research Associate at the Black Music Research Unit. She supports Dr. Mykaell Riley, Director of the BMRU, as the Unit continues to operate as the foremost research centre for the study of Black-British music and culture.

Outside of her work for the BMRU, Lizzie is an AHRC funded PhD student at the University of Bristol, working on an interdisciplinary project on Black-British rap and autofiction.

ROB TURNER

Senior Lecturer in 20th and 21st-Century Literature

English

University of Exeter

Rob Turner’s research is focused on American literature, with a particular interest in experiments in sound. He writes regularly about experimental music for the Wire magazine. Current projects include a book on sonic ecology and poetry, and an edited collection on hip-hop, literature, and American culture. Recent publications include two book chapters on the politics of epic (considering works by Ezra Pound and Will Alexander), and an analysis of Samuel Delany’s Afrofuturist metafictions.

SIMON TOPPING

Associate Professor

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

University of Plymouth

Simon Topping is Associate Professor of United States History at Plymouth University. He is the author of Lincoln’s Lost Legacy: The Republican Party and the African American Vote, 1928-1952 (University Press of Florida, 2008) which was short-listed for the 2009 Neustadt prize. He has published a number of articles on the importation of American racism into Northern Ireland during the Second World War.

For centuries, the idea of life beyond Earth has fascinated scientists, storytellers, and curious minds alike. We know that, within our solar system, all life needs water and a stable planetary atmosphere – but what about exoplanets in galaxies far, far away?

As the search for evidence of extra-terrestrial life has entered a new era and is moving rapidly, Professor Nathan Mayne from the University of Exeter is inviting you to join a discussion that will explore distant planets. We look at human efforts to uncover those planets presenting with the conditions of sustaining other life forms. Do they meet our preconceptions and expectations? And ultimately, can they help us answer the mind-boggling question: Is it only us out here?

This event is part of an event series on exoplanets and outer space. The second event will be Could There Be a Planet B? in November.

NATHAN MAYNE

Physics and Astronomy Department

University of Exeter

Nathan Mayne works in the Physics and Astronomy Department at the University of Exeter. There, he is a Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Climates in the Astrophysics Group, researching the climate of Earth, our solar system, and exoplanets. Nathan is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, the Academic Director of Research Computing Infrastructure for the University of Exeter, and one of our trustees!

After near extinction and years of conservation efforts across the UK, the government announced earlier this year that beavers are finally being released back into the wild! Though to the beavers along the River Otter in East Devon, this is old news. Since they were first spotted in 2013, they have made a successful return across the catchment. The River Otter beaver Trial led by Devon Wildlife Trust was the first wild licenced beaver reintroduction project in England.

Alan Puttock from the University of Exeter guides a stroll along the famous River Otter to search for signs of beavers. Hear about Alan’s research on nature-based solutions, landscape restoration and the key role beavers play in preserving biodiversity, improving water quality, and reducing drought and flooding.

This walk was funded by Devon Community Foundation.

ALAN PUTTOCK

Geography

University of Exeter

Alan Puttock is an environmental scientist and ecohydrologist. In his research, he takes on an interdisciplinary approach to investigate nature-based solutions and landscape restoration. His current work focuses on natural flood management solutions to create more resilient landscapes as well as maximising the benefits linked to landscape restoration. Alan is a lecturer in Nature-based Solutions at The Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW). CREWW conducts research into some of the most pressing environmental challenges in our time – namely how we can manage our precious natural resources in ways which are sustainable, innovative and resilient. https://experts.exeter.ac.uk/22145-alan-puttock/about.

From California to Australia, Wales to Bodmin Moor, news of wildfires has increasingly flickered across our screens. Not only do these fires dramatically change our landscapes, they also release huge amounts of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. But what constitutes a wildfire? And how does it affect wildlife and humans?

Dr Thomas Smith from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences visits Exeter to share his experience of chasing wildfires across four continents. Thomas is an environmental geographer who specialises in pyrogeography – the study of fire on earth. Together, we explore the science of wildfires, what they can tell us about the drivers, the impacts of environmental change, and the implications to our lives and broader society.

THOMAS SMITH

Associate Professor in Environmental Geography

Department of Geography and Environment

The London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Dr Thomas Smith is a wildfire scientist who specialises in understanding wildfire behaviour and smoke emissions. He is an Associate Professor in Environmental Geography at the London School of Economics where he teaches courses on climate change and the relationship between science and society.

The chief foreign correspondent of The Sunday Times and bestselling author of ‘I am Malala’ and ‘The Girl From Aleppo’ visits the South West.

Christina Lamb’s work is defined by determination and curiosity to vividly convey life in areas of danger and conflict. How else would the rest of us know about the injustice, the violence, but also the hope that can be found in those dark places?

What is the point of bearing witness to the atrocities of war? What difference can journalism make? As one of Britain’s leading foreign correspondents, Christina Lamb has never wavered from giving a voice to the unsung heroes of war, often women like the cyclists in Kabul, the Zimbabwean lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, and the famous Malala.

In this talk, Christina Lamb speaks about the defining moments of her career as an author and journalist: travelling with the Mujahidin, the resistance fighting Soviet occupation in Afghanistan during the Cold War, being in a 360 Taliban ambush, and surviving a bus bombing at an assassination attempt on Pakistan’s Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. After 38 years of reporting from the most dangerous places on earth, Christina shares why she still goes to war, asking what we can learn about humans, conflict, and resilience.

CHRISTINA LAMB

Author and Foreign Correspondent

Christina Lamb is one of Britain’s leading foreign journalists as well as a bestselling author. Her despatches with the Afghan mujaheddin fighting the Soviet Union saw her named Young Journalist of the Year at the age of 22. She has since reported everywhere from Iraq to Ukraine, Israel to Zimbabwe and been awarded Foreign Correspondent of the Year seven times as well as Europe’s top war reporting prize, the Prix Bayeux, the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from both the Society of Editors and Women in Journalism as well as the Chesney Gold Medal for promoting the understanding of war, previously awarded to Henry Kissinger and Winston Churchill.

She has always particularly focused on what war does to women, and her book Our Bodies, Their Battlefields about sexual violence in conflict was described by leading historian Antony Beevor as ‘the most powerful book’ he had ever read and recently recommended by Queen Camilla in a speech. She has written ten books including co-authoring the international bestseller I Am Malala. She is a Global envoy for UN Education Cannot Wait, Honorary Fellow of University College Oxford, on the board of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, and an Associate of the Imperial War Museum and was awarded an OBE in 2013.

In this live event, Joshua Howgego takes us on a rollicking ride through the world of meteorite hunting. Josh’s interest was sparked six years ago when he heard scientists say meteorites are like time capsules that record the history of our solar system. But how do we look for them?

Together, we follow the footsteps of scientists, explorers, and hobbyists to uncover more about the world’s rarest rocks and the secrets within them.

Josh will helps us piece together an unexpected new history of the solar system.

Find out more in Josh's new book: The Meteorite Hunters

JOSHUA HOWGEGO

Editor

New Scientist Magazine

Joshua Howgego is a science journalist based in London. Josh originally trained as a chemist and obtained his PhD at the University of Bristol. He also has a degree in science communication from Imperial College London. After having written for numerous titles, including Times Higher Education, SciDev.Net and Nature, he now works as a feature editor at New Scientist magazine, where he covers physical science.

Dyslexia isn’t a type of neurodivergence, is it? Neurodiversity means being an autistic adult, right? Does having Tics mean you always shout a lot? What is the purpose of getting diagnosed?

Listen to Dr. Abby Russel and Charlie Kelman discuss nine things you never knew about neurodiversity (or maybe you did!). Abby is a scientist based at the University of Exeter Children and Young People’s Mental Health Research Collaboration. Together we look at specific facts about neurodivergence but also delve deeper into things that could help or hinder neurodivergent people. We learn more about our senses, hyper- and hypo-sensitivity, and whether neurodivergence is increasing in the UK – or are we simply becoming more aware of it?

Have you ever wondered what the weather is like on Mars? In this special live event, join a world-leading scientist who works on two Mars Rovers to find out. Dr. Claire Newman is a planetary atmospheric specialist who studies weather and climate on Mars. We take a closer look at what recent surface missions have taught us and why NASA scientists are so curious about the red planet. Claire shares weather reports from the Perseverance Rover which describe a tumultuous place of violent dust storms, desert landscapes, and wildly fluctuating temperatures. Together we explore the key differences and similarities between weather on Earth and Mars.

CLAIRE NEWMAN

Dr. Claire Newman is a planetary atmospheric scientist who works on weather and climate on Mars and Titan, specialising in the study of dust storms. She is a team member on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, InSight Mars lander, and Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, as well as the upcoming Dragonfly Titan rotorcraft.

Fifty percent of the world’s population who make it to middle age and beyond will experience menopause, but talking about it, understanding it, and knowing how to manage it are only gradually becoming more commonplace. So how can we have more open conversations about individuals’ experiences?

Mainstream narratives on the menopause often contain a dizzying report of weight gain, brain fog, joint pain, anxiety, depression, dry skin, and hot flashes. Dr. Tina Cartwright joins us from the University of Westminster to chat about what perimenopause and menopause actually are and how they manifest in women differently.

Tina talks about recognising your symptoms to help you ask for the right support – whether from your employer or your GP. We also look at how exercise, CBT, yoga, and cold water swimming can support wellbeing during this time of transition.

How does the human immune system react to viruses, bacteria, or fungi invasions? Microbial life doesn’t just become visible under the microscope. During the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, it completely changed our lives.

Professor Robin May from the University of Birmingham Robin is fascinated by how microbes cause diseases. He takes us on an investigative safari to take a closer look at what happens when so called pathogens enter the human body.

ROBIN MAY

School of Biosciences

University of Birmingham

Robin is Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Birmingham and succeeded Sir Chris Whitty last year as the 39th Gresham Professor of Physic. He is currently serving as Chief Scientific Adviser to the Food Standards Agency, where he provides independent science advice to the UK Government on food policy.