The University of Edinburgh: The University of Edinburgh

Professor Stephen Gilmore, Chair of Software Systems Modelling, presented his inaugural lecture entitled "Is Informatics an indiscrete science?"

Abstract
One of the first lessons that every student of informatics learns is that computers operate with digital logic in a discrete world of bits. Starting from this view, the right way to reason about and predict the behaviour of programs is then to use discrete mathematics to prove logical properties of interest because discrete methods are precise and exact. While this approach is clearly justifiable and sensible it is also ultimately unhelpful because it does not scale to allow us to reason about larger systems with many interacting components. At these larger scales it becomes appropriate to adopt a continuous view of the discrete entities which are involved and to work instead with approximate numerical methods rather than exact ones. To go too far in this direction and abandon discrete methods altogether would be wrong because it would move too far away from the essential nature of informatics but perhaps it is worthwhile to explore more in the direction of continuous methods and see if informatics is an indiscrete science after all.

In this inaugural lecture I will tell the story of my journey along the path from the discrete world to the continuous world with PEPA, a modelling language which was invented in Edinburgh and now is used by research groups all over the world.

More details can be found at http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/informatics/news-events/inlecture/sgilmoreinaugural

Professor Federica G Pedriali, Professor of Literary Metatheory and Modern Italian Studies, presented her inaugural lecture, entitled "Gadda Goes to War: On becoming militant in the name of the militance of literature".

Abstract:

There is something about Gadda. The press is in no doubt, in the wake of box office success: "Tutti pazzi per Gadda". The Italian newspaper Repubblica cannot hold back: "Fabrizio Gifuni's monologue is our mirror". It is good to know that the nation in tatters still tolerates the mirror. It is even better, for those who are militant about culture, that it should be Gadda, our most exuberant modernist writer, to provide the emergency rations. One hundred twenty one performances have not just fuelled huge media interest: they do make an urgent statement about our collective need. And now, Italy's best kept literary secret is even packaged for emergency export -- thank goodness for the visionarism of those resisting in the world of the arts.

More details can be found at http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/humanities-soc-sci/news-events/lectures/inaugural-lectures/series-2011-2012/frederica-pedriali

Recorded on Thursday 20 September 2012 at the University of Edinburgh's Appleton Tower.

Professor Kenneth Reid, Chair of Scots Law, presented his inaugural lecture, entitled "Smoothing the rugged parts of the passage: Scots Law and its Edinburgh Chair".

This lecture examines the establishment of the Chair of Scots Law in 1722, considers some of its holders, and offers reflections on research and writing on Scottish private law.

Recorded on Tuesday 18 September 2012 at the University of Edinburgh's Old College.

Scott Aaronson, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, delivered his inaugural lecture entitled "Quantum Computing and the Limits of the Efficiently Computable".

Mr Aaronson discusses what can and can't be feasibly computed according to physical law. He argues that this is a fundamental question, not only for mathematics and computer science, but also for physics; and that the infeasibility of certain computational problems (such as NP-complete problems) could plausibly be taken as a physical principle, analogous to the Second Law or the impossibility of superluminal signalling.

He first explains the basics of computational complexity, including the infamous P versus NP problem and the Extended Church-Turing Thesis. Then he discusses quantum computers: what they are, whether they can be scalably built, and what's known today about their capabilities and limitations. Lastly, he touches on speculative models of computation that would go even beyond quantum computers, using (for example) closed timelike curves or nonlinearities in the Schrodinger equation.

Mr Aaronson emphasises that, even if "intractable" computations occur in a particular description of a physical system, what really matters is whether those computations have observable consequences.

Biography:
Scott Aaronson is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received his PhD in computer science from University of California, Berkeley and did postdocs at the Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Waterloo.

Scott's research interests center around fundamental limits on what can efficiently be computed in the physical world. This has entailed studying quantum computing, the most powerful model of computation we have based on known physical theory.

He writes a blog (www.scottaaronson.com/blog), and is the creator of the Complexity Zoo (www.complexityzoo.com), an online encyclopedia of computational complexity theory. He was the recipient of NSF's Alan T Waterman Award for 2012.

Professor Tony Lynch, Personal Chair of Student Learning (English for Academic Purposes) , presented his inaugural lecture entitled "The Importance of Listening to International Students".

The title is intentionally ambiguous. It refers firstly to the importance for international students of having adequate comprehension of spoken English; and it also alludes to the importance for the University of taking account of international students’ perceptions of studying at Edinburgh.

In the lecture, Prof Lynch addresses both these issues. In the first part he draws on his research into the experience of second language listeners, in order to outline the processes underlying comprehension, the problems likely to arise, and possible solutions to those difficulties.

In the second part he discuss postgraduates’ responses to an ELTC (English Language Teaching Centre) survey on linguistic and cultural aspects of studying at Edinburgh. He argues that relatively minor adjustments by and for international students would help smooth their path to academic success.

Recorded on Wednesday 16 May 2012 at the Auditorium lecture theatre, Business School, The University of Edinburgh.

Professor Alex Simpson, Personal Chair in Foundations of Computer Science, delivered his inaugural lecture entitled "The Intertwined Foundations of Mathematics and Computer Science".

Mathematics is commonly perceived as a subject in which there are absolute standards of truth and proof. This perception, however, is not entirely accurate. There are ways in which it is possible to shape mathematics to suit the applications to which it will be put.

In this talk, which is aimed at a general audience, Prof Simpson discusses various ways in which mathematics can be reshaped to take account of concepts arising in computer science.

He also briefly touches upon how such reshapings might even be of use within certain areas of mathematics itself.

Recorded on Thursday 17 May at the Informatics Forum, The University of Edinburgh.

Professor Ian Campbell, Chair of Architectural History & Theory (ECA) delivers his Inaugural Lecture entitled "Planning for Pilgrims: St Andrews as the Second Rome".

The burgh of St Andrews was laid out in the mid-twelfth century, on a grandiose scale, and to a different plan from the majority of contemporary burghs in Scotland, including Edinburgh.

The lecture argues that it was deliberately modelled on the Vatican Borgo, the area between St Peter's and the Tiber in Rome, which had been fortified in the ninth century AD.

At the time of the laying out of the burgh, the bishops of St Andrews were trying to elevate their status by using the relics of St Andrew, St Peter's older brother, just as the bishops of Compostela had done earlier in the twelfth century, when they gained the title of 'apostolic see' for Santiago, putting it on a par with Jerusalem and Rome.

Recorded on Monday 7 May 2012 at the Auditorium lecture theatre, Business School, The University of Edinburgh.

Sethu Vijayakumar is the Professor of Robotics and the Director of the Institute for Perception, Action and Behavior (IPAB) at the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh.

This inaugural lecture, entitled "Robots that learn: old dreams, new tools", is about making robots run faster, jump higher and throw further while being as versatile, robust and adaptive as humans.

Sethu illustrates some success stories and talks about the spills and thrills of working on exciting robotics platforms such as KUKA and SARCOS dexterous arms, Touch Bionics iLIMB and humanoid robots such as the HONDA ASIMO, DB and the Nao footballers. He also reflects on the impact of this work on domains ranging from assisted living and autonomous navigation to prosthetics, robotic radiotherapy, exoskeletons and green energy.

Recorded 25 April 2012 at the Informatics Forum, Edinburgh.

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Professor John Lee, Personal Chair of Digital Media, delivers his Inaugural Lecture "Learning Vicariously with Rich Media".

Recorded on Monday 26 March 2012 at the Auditorium lecture theatre, Business School, The University of Edinburgh.

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Alex Lascarides, Professor of Semantics, presents her inaugural lecture entitled "Discourse Coherence".
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