This research spotlight event is open to all students within the College of Life and Environmental Sciences.
Book your place now.
Join us for talks over two days, both from within your own subject area and from across the College. Explore a fantastic range of topics, discover new ones, and expand your horizons in your degree and beyond.
As part of UoB Xtra, we’ll be celebrating our themes of Lifestyle and Human Health and Resilient Environments and Health. With 14 talks on everything from climate change to healthcare, hangovers, video games, feeding the world, elite athletes, curing cancer, and controlling pain, there’s something for everyone.
Programme
11:00–12:00: Bacteria: how they rule the world, Professor Steve Busby
Bacteria are arguably the most abundant living species on earth, and yet their importance is often ignored by humans, who think of them only as the cause of some diseases. The session will give a gentle introduction to bacteria, give an overview of their place during the evolution of life on earth, and try explain why they 'rule the world'.
13:00–14:00: The science of hangovers, Dr Sally Adams
Often considered a trivial and unavoidable consequence of alcohol use, and scientifically described as "a general state of misery" alcohol hangover is estimated to cost the UK £1.4 billion a year. This talk will look at what is happening to our brain and body after a night of drinking and answer questions such "Do certain drinks give you a worse hangover?", "Can you be immune to hangovers?" and "Are hangover cures effective?". Come along and find out about the science of hangovers!
14:00–15:00: The geography of videogames, Dr Phil Jones
Why should we care about videogames? There are around 25,000 people directly employed by the sector in the UK alone, with the gaming sector having a genuinely global audience. In this talk we’ll reflect on the technology underlying these products as well as their social and cultural impacts.
16:00–17:00: Genetic therapy for our crops to feed the world, Dr Eugenio Sanchez-Moran
Genetic tools and therapies are advancing exponentially allowing gene therapies to make life changing differences to human diseases. With increasing global population and climate change find out how we could use these same genetic tools to produce enough food to feed the next generations.