• 18:00 - 19:00
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre, Cambridge Booking Recommended

Research evaluation is a familiar element of modern science, and peer review is one of the favoured ways of doing it. But peer review has not always been so central to academic reputations; nor has it always functioned as it now does. This lecture will draw upon my team’s research in the archives of the Royal Society of London to explore how evaluation has changed over the last 250 years, to explain the present crisis and to discuss options for the future.

The Royal Society has published scientific journals since 1665. It was one of the first institutions to develop written refereeing processes, which began to be used at the Philosophical Transactions in the 1830s and later at the Proceedings and other journals. The Society’s unrivalled archives shed light onhow decisions were made – and by whom, and why – before and after the introduction of written refereeing.

During the twentieth century, ‘peer-reviewed publications’ acquired a privileged status. The increasing importance assigned to refereeing accompanied professionalisation and increased competition. The growth of science, demographic changes and internationalization have also posed challenges for our ongoing use of an evaluation practice that originally developed in the context of a closed, gentlemanly community. What should the future of peer review look like?

• 09:00 - 17:45
• Cambridge University Engineering Department

Professor Sir David MacKay (1967-2016) made fundamental contributions to both public and theoretical understandings of energy and of information. He served as Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Energy and Climate Change and was Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Cavendish Laboratory before being appointed as the inaugural Regius Professor of Engineering. He was a Fellow of Darwin College. 

This one-day meeting of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, dedicated to his memory, considers both the urgent challenges of sustainable energy resources and the global opportunities arising from information technologies. We will be addressing the two main themes of his work: machine learning, information theory and Bayesian inference, together with sustainable energy. The meeting marks the tenth anniversary of David’s death, with speakers who worked with David, build on his contributions in the field of energy and information, and share his values on the importance of clear and accessible communication.

The meeting in Cambridge University Engineering Department is open to all to attend, without charge. The lectures will be live-streamed; edited recordings will later be made available through the Cambridge Philosophical Society website. Registration for both in-person and virtual attendance is recommended.

David MacKay is remembered by many with great affection and respect as colleague, mentor and friend, and it will be good to share these memories. We have set up a webform for you to provide a personal tribute if you wish: Tribute to David MacKay Webform

You will need to make your own arrangements for lunch.

You are welcome to buy sandwiches, cakes, snacks and drinks in the Engineering Department’s cafeteria on the second floor (only card payments are accepted), and you may also use this room to eat your own food.

Hot Numbers, just across Trumpington Street, does excellent beverages (from 7am!) and hot food. Plenty of other options to be found in the centre of Cambridge, a ten-minute walk away.

Royal Society Biographical Memoir: Sir David John Cameron MacKay

Malcolm Longair, Michael Cates; Sir David John Cameron MacKay FRS. 22 April 1967 — 14 April 2016. Biogr. Mems Fell. R. Soc. 1 January 2017; (63): 443–465. 

https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.2017.0013