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| Meeting Details | |
| Speaker: | Dr. Jacqueline Stroud |
| Affiliation: | University of Warwick |
| Date: | Wednesday, 7th October 2026 |
| Time: | 20:00 |
| Venue: | Studio Theatre |
| Description: | Earthworms scrape, beetles click and subterranean ants seem to squeak – this talk shares soil sounds and insights into how soil invertebrates may use their vibration sensitivity to survive. |
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| Meeting Details | |
| Speaker: | Professor Emeritus Matthew Cobb |
| Affiliation: | University of Manchester |
| Date: | Thursday, 5th November 2026 |
| Time: | 7:30 p.m |
| Venue: | Main House of the Lichfield Garrick |
| Description: | This discovery in 1953 was one of the most significant moments in the history of science. It has since become one of the most controversial, with many people believing that Watson and Crick stole Rosalind Franklin’s data. In fact there was more collaboration between them than is widely believed and the three scientists later became friends. |
| Meeting Details | |
| Speaker: | Jonathan Grigg |
| Affiliation: | RWE |
| Date: | Tuesday, 24th November 2026 |
| Time: | 20:00 |
| Venue: | Main House of the Lichfield Garrick |
| Description: | Sofia lies 240km off the UK coast on the Dogger Bank in the North Sea. Completed in 2026 after 5 years of construction and with a capacity of 1.4GW, its 100 state-of-the-art wind turbines power over 1.2million UK homes with green electricity. |
| Meeting Details | |
| Speaker: | Professor Stuart Hillmansen |
| Affiliation: | University of Birmingham |
| Date: | Wednesday 6th January 2027 |
| Time: | 20:00 |
| Venue: | Studio Theatre |
| Description: | Modern railway traction systems deliver efficient, reliable and sustainable transport. Covering electrification, onboard energy conversion, battery and hydrogen technologies, and advances in traction control, the talk examines how rail engineers are meeting the challenges of decarbonisation while maintaining performance, capacity and operational resilience across today’s railway network. |
| Meeting Details | |
| Speaker: | Professor Sarah Dimeloe |
| Affiliation: | University of Birmingham |
| Date: | Thursday, 4th February 2027 |
| Time: | 20:00 |
| Venue: | Studio Theatre |
| Description: | Many new cancer therapies aim to take advantage of the capacity of certain of our white blood cells (called T cells) to target and kill cancer cells. Dr. Dimeloe oversees a team that studies killer T cells to understand how they respond to these therapies and identify barriers that could be overcome to improve treatment responses. She will also discuss her recent research on Multiple Myeloma, a blood cancer. |
| Meeting Details | |
| Speaker: | Professor Chris Holland |
| Affiliation: | University of Sheffield |
| Date: | Tuesday, 9th March 2027 |
| Time: | |
| Venue: | Studio Theatre |
| Description: | Discover the biological anomalies that offer tomorrow's engineering inspiration, from toxic rat hair to orchid adhesives. In this talk we uncover the truths behind spider silk spinning, cobra venom, equine knees, and the secret water-cost of slug trails. |
| Meeting Details | |
| Speaker: | Professor Tim Lenton |
| Affiliation: | University of Exeter |
| Date: | Wednesday, 14th April 2027 |
| Time: | 20:00 |
| Venue: | Studio Theatre |
| Description: | Tipping points are small changes in the Earth’s system that unleash damaging impacts that accelerate climate change. Examples are rising sea levels or the release of methane from the thawing permafrost. They help to underline the urgency of climate action. Today most people understand we must reduce emissions – and very quickly. |
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| Meeting Details | |
| Speaker: | Dr. Joe Cain |
| Affiliation: | University College, London |
| Date: | Thursday, 6th May 2027 |
| Time: | 20:00 |
| Venue: | Studio Theatre |
| Description: | A science-based political controversy which involved Swedish feminists, battles between medical students and the police, police protection for the statue of a dog, a libel trial, and a Royal Commission to investigate vivisection. This meeting will be preceded at 7:30 by the Society’s AGM |
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| Meeting Details | |
| Speaker: | Professor Tim Lang |
| Affiliation: | City St George's, University of London |
| Date: | Tuesday, 8th June 2027 |
| Time: | 20:00 |
| Venue: | Studio Theatre |
| Description: | This lecture explores the complex and messy mid-21st century food system. It reviews likely shocks such as the impact of electricity for domestic storage. It outlines what food security and food defence might mean in a modern militarised context. How will the public react in crises? Do they know what food life could be without telephone ordering? There is much in UK official policy that is sound but do we still assume that someone will feed us? |