VACUUM cleaners that unblock brain vessels and the ways in which our medical data can aid the Covid-19 fight are just some of the topics to be explored at the University of Dundee next week.
Discovery Days 2021 is to take place next Wednesday, and will see 14 recently appointed professors talk for up to 15 minutes about their area of research, as will award-winning teachers, students and other members of staff. The short presentations will showcase the leading work at the university that is helping to transform lives around the world.
Due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, this year’s event will take place online, giving members of the public the opportunity to hear about innovative and impactful research in areas as diverse as art and design and life sciences.
Two of the sessions will be chaired by professor Iain Gillespie, who took up his new role as principal and vice-chancellor of the university this week.
Gillespie said: “I am really looking forward to hearing from some of our brightest minds, explaining what drives their cutting-edge research and the impact it is having.
“The line-up of speakers for Discovery Days 2021 shows the incredible research strengths there are in our university, across a range of disciplines.”
Professor Anthony Head, from the university’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, is one of this year’s speakers. Head was part of the team which created the Fare Well swarm drone show for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay’s celebrations and will discuss his latest research into these animated light shows, which see hundreds of quadcopters in the sky to provide a modern alternative to firework displays.
Other speakers include:
Professor Emily Jefferson – Data Saves Lives: The Fight Against C-19
Professor Iris Grunwald – Excellence in Stroke Care – A No-Brainer
Professor Michael Gratzke – Love Is What People Say It Is
Professor Sandra Wilson – The New Gold Rush
Professor Sue Dawson – Unlocking Scotland’s Tsunami History
Professor Ulrich Zachariae – How the Human Body Communicates by Electric Signals
Members of the public are invited to attend as many or as few sessions as they wish, and will have the opportunity to ask the speakers’ questions about their work. The full programme of speakers is available on www.dundee.ac.uk/discoverydays.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here