Dr. Aziz Aboobaker is a Cambridge graduate who has worked at many top universities including Berkeley and Nottingham. He is currently an associate professor in Genetics at the University of Oxford where he runs his own lab. Dr Aboobaker’s research is based on using planarians (flatworms) as a model system to study cell regeneration and aging.

He spoke to our students about why he works with planarians and how they are an excellent organism to study to learn about ageing. Dr Aboobaker also gave our students a real insight into the application process for Oxford University and advised them how they should start preparing now.

The lecture for geography students at The NCS discussed Cultural Superpowers and used Captain America as a lens through which to look at how military and political interventions are legitimated through the circulation of pop culture artefacts. It isn’t enough to be militarily or politically a ‘superpower’ — you have to convince people that it is legitimate for you to use that power.