Easter Term Dinners
On 9th and 23rd May 2024 we were delighted to host our two Easter Term Dinners in the Senior Common Room Dining Room of Hatfield College, Durham. Each dinner saw both new and established Fellows, Members, and Visiting Fellows convening from across the scientific disciplines for an interdisciplinary-focused evening.
We are grateful to all those who came, especially Professor Ann Maclarnon, Professor Del Atkinson, and Professor Paula Chadwick, whose support is integral to DIRDI’s success. We were honoured to host Professor Sir Michael Pepper of University College London and Trinity College, Cambridge, and Dr Gareth Conduit of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, two of DIRDI’s newly-appointed Visiting Fellows.
Highlights included speeches from Dr Leah Morabito, Professor John Hunton, Professor Sir Michael Pepper, Reverend Professor David Wilkinson, Mr Chris Ryan, and Dr James Nightingale. Each of these short talks explored a variety of subjects with a common theme being the motivations behind scientific discovery.
Professor Sir Michael spoke about the Cavendish Laboratory and how Professor Sir Nevill Mott’s support for interdisciplinary work was a key factor in its success throughout the late 20th century. As an inspirational institution to DIRDI and its vision, this parallel is one we are particularly proud to highlight. Professor John gave an overview of his interests in chaos theory, aperiodic tilings, and their applications.
Dr Leah gave a brief overview of her career, from working with radar in the US Air Force, to applying those skills in interferometry in astronomical telescopes. Dr James spoke about his work in cosmology, and how the methodology he uses can be transposed to cancer research and economics, an idea which several in the room were keen to explore further. Chris spoke about his work in naval architecture, and the difficulties associated with naval design in challenging polar environments. Reverend Professor David gave a delightful and inspiring talk on the relationship between faith and physics.
As DIRDI expands to include a wider network of junior and senior academics across universities, we are keen to engage as fully as possible with all of our fellows. This is why from next academic year, we can confirm that DIRDI shall hold additional regular dinners in London, and quite probably in Oxford and Cambridge too. We warmly encourage all our Members, Fellows, and Visiting Fellows to attend as many of these events as they would like to, as DIRDI’s strength comes from the enthusiasm of those whom we are so lucky to have within our network. We greatly look forward welcoming as many members as possible to an expanded programme of events in the 2024/2025 Academic Year.
