The importance of communicating: Professor Jim Al-Khalili
Theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster Professor Jim Al-Khalili is giving a public lecture in Portsmouth next week on the importance of communicating scientific and engineering research.
The lecture has been organised by the Faculty of Technology at the University of Portsmouth and forms part of the 2013 Engineering Professors’ Council congress.
The annual two-day congress will attract some of the UK’s foremost academics in the field of engineering.
The University’s engineering heritage spans educational and research disciplines including chemical, civil, electronic, electrical, materials, mineral and mechanical engineering.
Faculty Dean Professor Djamel Ait-Boudaoud said: “Academics have a duty and responsibility to strengthen political and public support of their respective disciplines through public engagement events.
“This is particularly important in science and engineering to ensure that we are raising public interest through inspirational talks and activities.
“I am extremely thankful to Jim for agreeing to share his experience.”
The Engineering Professors’ Council exists to promote excellence in engineering in higher education. Its primary purpose is to provide a forum at which academic engineers can exchange ideas about education and research, and to represent engineer’s interests in industry and government.
Susan Kay, executive director of the council, said: “Now, more than ever, it’s important for the engineering profession to keep learning and developing new ways in which it can engage the public and communicate the vitally important things it does in solving some of the greatest challenges faced by the world today – from food security to cyber security – and its leading role in driving the UK’s economic recovery.”
Professor Al-Khalili is professor of theoretical physics and chair of public engagement in science at the University of Surrey. He is a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific and recent BBC television programmes Chemistry: a Volatile History; Shock and Awe: the History of Electricity and the 2012 Horizon special on the quest to discover the Higgs Boson. His regular Jim Meets… lecture series features interviews with Brian Cox, David Attenborough and Robert Winston.
The lecture will take place at 6pm next Tuesday in the University’s Richmond Building in Portland Street. Tickets are free but booking is essential via Eventbrite: http://spreadingtheword.eventbrite.com/
