Agile Rabbit

SHOLTHANA BEGUM

Head of Regtech and Data Innovation

Bank of England

PETER CHALLENOR

Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (IDSAI)

University of Exeter

TIM DODWELL

Professor in Computational Mechanics

Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (IDSAI)

University of Exeter

NOOR SHAKER

CEO

Glamorous AI

RITULA SHAH (CHAIR)

Lead Presenter, The World Tonight

BBC Radio 4

AI is at a crucial point: in this event discover its radiant possibilities as well as the possible changes to all our lives. A world leading panel of experts from business, finance, media and academia discuss the eye-opening scenarios of our future.

There is a particular focus on how AI is used to make models for our decisions, regulate our systems, and reduce the impact of uncertainty to solve real-world problems

Which areas of our lives will have the most rapid changes? What does this tell us about what it means to be human?

This event is in partnership with the University of Exeter Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

How can you help your children do well at school and beyond? Hear the top tips – and the evidence for them – in this special live event with Lee Elliot Major, the first professor of Social Mobility. He reveals what really matters in education, debunking myths and misconceptions that can harm children’s learning.

Professor Eliot Major’s work helps parents to focus on the effective use of their time, which leads to better outcomes for children, but also a more balanced life. Based on the findings of thousands of studies alongside many personal parenting stories, we’ll examine how to empower children so they become independent thinkers ready to prosper in the world.

We think about viruses as harmful to us, but research by our speaker Martha Clokie shows that some can improve our health. These tiny viruses known as ‘phages’ do this by invading bacteria, multiplying, and bursting out, eventually destroying their host. When these are bacteria that attack our bodies, this could be beneficial—our enemy’s enemy is our friend.

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health. As a result, a growing number of infections—such as pneumonia, sepsis and diarrhoea—are harder to treat.

Professor Martha Clokie is leading the fight against antibiotic resistant bacterial infections with this vital research. In particular, her work shows the potential for the use of phages against superbugs such as Clostridium difficile, Salmonella, and Borrelia (the causative agent of Lyme disease).

In May 2019, headlines around the world told the story of the successful phage treatment of Isabelle Carnell-Holdaway, a sufferer of cystic fibrosis who contracted tuberculosis, who was initially given a 1% chance of survival.

As antibiotic resistance increases, and previously treatable diseases are left without a cure, our speaker asks if phages have a greater role to play in modern medicine.

The fascinating history of phage therapy dates back to the 1910s in Georgia, but never reached widespread use following Stalanist purges, Cold War politics, and the wider use of antibiotics.

In this event Paul Mason offers a radical, hopeful blueprint for resisting and defeating the new far right. It is both a chilling portrait of contemporary fascism – what fascists believe and how they operate today – and a compelling history of the fascist phenomenon: its psychological roots, political theories and genocidal logic. Fascism, Mason powerfully argues, is a symptom of capitalist failure, one that has haunted us throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.

Find out what makes a psychopath, from the leading expert who helped to create Killing Eve’s Villanelle. Dr Mark Freestone has worked on some of the most interesting and infamous psychopath cases of recent times

Find out what makes a psychopath, from the leading expert who helped to create Killing Eve’s Villanelle. Dr Mark Freestone has worked on some of the most interesting and infamous psychopath cases of recent times

Find out what makes a psychopath, from the leading expert who helped to create Killing Eve’s Villanelle. Dr Mark Freestone has worked on some of the most interesting and infamous psychopath cases of recent times.

Exploring the many factors that make a psychopath, the complexities and contradictions of their emotions and behaviour, as well as an examination of how the lives of psychopaths develop inside and outside the institutions that treat them, this talk will open up a window into the world of those who operate outside of common human emotion.

Recent headlines across the world declared that Climate Change is the ​“the biggest global health threat of the 21st century”—based on the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change published in November 2019. Its co-author joins us from the University of Exeter to discuss her vital work behind the story.

The impacts of climate change are not felt equally. Those on low incomes—who are already more likely to have worse health—will suffer most from weather extremes, food shortages and flood damages, causing further health problems.

Health inequalities in the UK are already stark. If you are born in parts of Glasgow, your life expectancy is 26 years less than someone born in Kensington & Chelsea. Across Western Europe life expectancy can vary by up to 10 years.

In this timely talk—followed by audience questions and discussion—Professor Karyn Morrissey discusses the current health inequalities crisis and how climate change will bring our health systems to the brink. Karyn’s research is informing city level responses to climate change.

Our speaker is head of the BBC Natural History Unit; founded in the 1950s as the first and biggest production unit of its kind, it is regarded as the world’s greatest maker of wildlife documentary films. Planet Earth, Frozen Planet, Life on Earth, and dozens more groundbreaking series were all delivered by this Bristol-based outfit.

Julian Hector discusses the relationship between Natural History Television and the conservation of the natural world it depicts. Julian looks at the power of documentaries to move the public, change government policy, and inspire scientists across the world. This talk reveals special secrets and stories behind the making of documentaries, while charting their effect on our attitudes and behaviour to a natural world in crisis.

Followed by Q & A

Held in partnership with Two Short Nights film festival and the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter.

A new area of cosmology is the subject for the physicist, mathematician and philosopher of science, famous for many achievements, in particular his work with Stephen Hawking. This talk focuses on recent ground-breaking observations of anomalous points in the very early universe that appear to be sources of vast amounts of energy. These could have been produced by black holes evaporating before the Big Bang. Sir Roger will explain how this is new evidence that our universe is just one stage in a potentially infinite cycle of cosmic extinction and rebirth.