Category: Academic Talks

Date and Time: Monday 24th November 2025, 18:00 – 19:00

Location: Wilkins Room (Staircase R)

“The Evitable Journey of Artificial Intelligence to Replace Humanity”

We call them servants. What if they are our heirs? If humanity is not the final form of intelligence, then are we merely the biological launchpad for our true successors?
On one hand, we will investigate scenarios not of metallic armies, but of silent, systemic obsolescence. A world where AI is the new apex predator in the cognitive niche—where it not only writes all  the essays for our supervisions and summarises that pesky library book that might take days to read; but also dispenses justice,  proves the theorems, prescribes the cultural narrative and redefines how homo sapiens interacts in love, sex and death. In this future, humanity is not exterminated; it becomes simply… irrelevant.
On the other hand, the talk will explore the ultimate catastrophic risks: advanced AI systems surpassing human-level intelligence and evading their creators’ control for their incomprehensible (to us, at least) purposes.  We will move beyond clichéd debates on ‘alignment’ and ‘ethics’ to present a provocative framework of outcomes for how this “evitable journey” can be, and must be, rerouted before the servants lock the door from the inside.

Date and Time: Monday 10th November 2025, 17:30 – 19:00

Location: Tim Cadbury Room (E Staircase)

“Entrepreneurship & Innovation: Building a Career Portfolio Beyond Science”

His talk will describe his extensive past and current experiences in entrepreneurship and innovation, how he navigated his career after graduating from science degrees, as well as some of the latest developments in HK, China and Asia. 

Date and time: Wednesday May 14th, 6pm

Location: Tim Cadbury/Music Room

‘Improving flowers to help save the world’

Dr Symington is a researcher at the university as a member of the Department of Plant Sciences who is interested in pollination and plant-pollinator interactions alongside the implications for crop-breeding, an important area for future research.

from the Department of Oncology, Cambridge

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Talk time: Wednesday 19^th March, 6-7pm. Arrive at 5:30pm for a chance to chat with the speakers prior to the talk. You will not get a chance during the formal as they will be sat at the high table! 
Location: Tim Cadbury/Music Room, staircase E 

Dr Daniel Munoz-Espin will discuss “Role of Cellular Senescence in Ageing and Cancer: Therapeutic Opportunities”.
Summary: Cellular senescence is a response to unrepairable damage and stress, and it is characterised by the implementation of a stable cell cycle arrest and potent proinflammatory phenotype (SASP). We will recapitulate physiological roles of senescence playing an active contribution in embryonic development, wound healing and tumour suppression. However, when senescent cells are not cleared by the immune system their physiological roles deregulate and turn into pathological manifestations that result in tissue dysfunction, chronic inflammation, a number of age-related disorders and the acceleration of ageing. We will discuss crucial therapeutic strategies to manipulate senescence in disease.
Dr Jianfeng Ge will discuss “CRISPR Screening for the Identification of Senolytic Targets in Ageing and Cancer”
Summary: “Preclinical models have shown that eliminating senescent cells using Senotherapies can reverse age-related disorders and extend lifespan in mice. However, the heterogeneity of senescence and the lack of specific biomarkers hinder the clinical translation of Senolytic drugs. Developing more precise biomarkers and next-generation Senolytic compounds is crucial for overcoming these challenges.”

Date and Time: 6pm, Wednesday 13th November 2024

Location: Tim Cadbury/Music Room

The quest for new particles at the LHC and beyond.

Sarah is an Assistant Professor in High Energy Physics at the University of Cambridge and has been a member of the ATLAS collaboration since 2010. Her research focuses on searches for new physics at the LHC and precision tests of the Standard Model.

She has just finished a 2-year-term as ATLAS UK physics coordinator and has previously held coordination roles in statistics and software reconstruction. She is also interested in the roadmap towards future colliders beyond the LHC and is one of the UK delegates on the European Committee for Future Accelerators.

Date and Time: Wednesday 15th May, 18:00 GMT

Location: Tim Cadbury & Music Room

Dr Parker is a senior lecturer in the Cambridge PDN (Physiology, Development and Neuroscience) department studying the networks underlying sensory, motor, and cognitive functions to understand how behaviours are generated. As our Easter speaker, he gave a talk on the philosophy of science from a neuroscientist’s perspective.

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Date and Time: Monday 11th March 2024.

Location: Howard Theatre

A talk and networking event delivered by VitaDAO, a collective dedicated to funding and advancing early stage longevity science research. In conjunction with the Cambridge Society of Ageing and Longevity Research.

Date and Time: Wednesday 28th February, 18:00 GMT

Location: Howard Building

Our long-anticipated first academic talk of the year will be delivered by Mary-Ellen Lynall, a psychiatrist investigating the immunology of psychiatric disorders, Medical Research Council Clinical Research Training Fellow and Bye-fellow at Christ’s College.