The University of Edinburgh: The University of Edinburgh

Professor Malcolm Macleod Personal, Chair in Neurology and Translational Neuroscience, delivers his inaugural lecture entitled, "Rigour Mortis: How Bad Research is Killing Science".

Recorded on 26 May 2014 at the University of Edinburgh's Chancellor's Building.

Professor Fiona Mackay, Personal Chair in Politics, delivers he inaugural lecture entitled, "Nested Newness" and the Gendered Limits of Institutional Change.

This lecture suggests that we need to pay more attention to examining and theorizing newness and processes of change. It uses the concept of "nested newness" to examine the promise and limit of institutional innovation.

Drawing upon examples ranging from the Scottish parliament to the United Nations, it asks why gender reforms appear so vulnerable to regress and what can we do to make change "stick"?

Recorded on 20 May 2014 at the University of Edinburgh's Business School.

Professor Bettelou Los, Forbes Chair of English Language, delivers her inaugural lecture entitled Changing English.

No language ever stays the same, and no part of it is immune. Changes affect not only sounds and vocabulary, but also grammar, word order, pragmatics, giving rise to different varieties and different dialects all the time. Professor Los discusses these changes.

Recorded on 6 May 2013 at the University of Edinburgh's Old College.

Professor John M Davis, Professor of Childhood Inclusion, delivers his inaugural lecture entitled Including Children in Scotland: Concepts, Structures, Relationships and the Common Weal.

With the referendum to be held in 2014 in Scotland there has been great debate concerning the type of society we want to live in. Professor Davis draws from over 25 years of collaborative research, practical work with children and eventful encounters to discuss what a more child focussed, inclusive and socially just society might look like.

This lecture contains infrequent uses of strong language.

Recorded on 13 May 2014 at the University of Edinburgh's Old College.

Professor Nikolas Gisborne, Chair of Linguistics, delivers his inaugural lecture entitled, What’s Grammar For?

If you listen to how people talk about grammar in the press you could be forgiven for thinking that it is little more than an aesthetic matter, to do with ‘good’ and ‘bad’ writing.

A hundred and fifty years after Henry Alford popularized the spurious ‘rule’ that the English infinitive should not be ‘split’, there are still people who—against all reason—insist, and trenchantly, that it’s wrong to put an adverb between TO and the bare form of the verb it’s associated with. But grammar is so much more than this.

Find more information on this lecture at http://edin.ac/1nqN1SX.

Recorded on 29 April 2014 at the University of Edinburgh's Old College.

Professor Grant Jarvie, Chair of Sport, delivers his inaugural lecture entitled, Sport: More Than Just a Game.

This lecture will comment upon Scotland's contribution to the world of sport then argue that sport is more than just a game and can be a resource of hope for many around the world.

Recorded on 22 April 2014 at the University of Edinburgh's Teviot Lecture Theatre.

Professor Clifford Leen, Honorary Professor and Consultant Physician Infectious Diseases, presents his inaugural lecture titled "Progress in Antiviral Treatment".

Recorded on Monday 7 April 2014 at the University of Edinburgh's Chancellor’s Building, Little France campus.

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Susan McVie, Professor of Quantitative Criminology, presents her inaugural lecture titled "Painting by Numbers: The Changing Landscape of Crime in Scotland".

In this lecture, Professor McVie considers the dramatic change in patterns of crime that have been observed in Scotland in recent years and explore whether it represents real cultural and behavioural change.

Recorded on 18 March 2014 at the University of Edinburgh's Appleton Tower.

Professor Michael O'Boyle, Director of Institute for Computing Systems Architecture, delivers his inaugural lecture, "Return of the silver bullet or avoiding groundhog day? Auto-parallelisation reloaded".

Professor O'Boyle will explore why compiler based code optimization has often failed to deliver. He will also look at ways we can recast compiler optimization so that it can really deliver for the many-core era.

Recorded on March 10 2014 at the University of Edinburgh's Informatics Forum.

Professor Michèle Belot, Professor of Economics, delivers her inaugural lecture, "Diseases of Affluence: On the Relationship Between Economics and Health".

This lecture will ask, why are Western societies so rich and at the same time so sick?

Recorded on 11 March 2014 at the University of Edinburgh's Old College.