• 18:00 - 19:00
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre

Modern methods for computing the properties of realistic materials from first principles (starting from quantum mechanics) have resulted in robust, efficient, and easy to use computer codes.

With with the explosion of available computational resources, and increasingly, machine learning, it has become possible to search though the vast space of compositions and arrangements of atoms to “discover” new materials with extreme properties, or under extreme and experimentally difficult to access conditions.

Examples range from the computational prediction of superconductors with very high superconducting transition temperatures, which at least in some cases have been confirmed experimentally, to the prediction of the behaviour of matter in the centre of giant planets, or even white dwarf stars.

• 18:00 - 19:00
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre

Unfortunately, modelling of infectious disease no longer needs as much introduction as it did before 2020. The use of mathematical approaches during the COVID-19 pandemic was very visible, both for aiding policy decisions, and for the public understanding of the unfolding pandemic. In this lecture, I will give a speed introduction to the ideas of mathematical modelling, how we were able to contribute to scientific advice to the UK government, and also something of my personal story on science communication during the pandemic.