Image: Research Cafés 2024

08 November
2023

Research Cafés 2024

The West Hub to host Research Café on 17th of January, 2024.

Image:PdOC Research Showcase

20 August
2023

PdOC Research Showcase

PdOC Research Showcase, taking place on 1st November 2023 at WestHub, Cambridge, supported by The Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Image:BBC Earth

19 August
2023

BBC Earth

Dr Emily Mitchell talks about Ediacaran fossils on BBC Earth, fronted by Chris Packham.

Image:The stones that built Cambridge

30 May
2023

The stones that built Cambridge

Members explore the impressive John Watson Building Stones Collection housed in the former Museum of Economic Geology at the Department of Earth Sciences.

Image:Full steam ahead

17 May
2023

Full steam ahead

Society members visit Bazalgette's masterpiece of engineering, the Crossness Pumping Station in South London. 

Image:Sedgwick Studentships Available

29 April
2023

Sedgwick Studentships Available

Anglia Ruskin University and the Cambridge Philosophical Society are requesting applications for two PhD studentships, due to start in September 2023.

Upcoming Events

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17

02

Why there’s no such thing as “the” scientific advice

Professor Stephen John

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

During the Covid-19 pandemic, U.K. policy-makers claimed to be "following the science". Many commentators objected that the government did not live up to this aim. Others worried that policy-makers ought not blindly "follow" science, because this involves an abdication of responsibility. In this talk, I consider a third, even more fundamental concern: that there is no such thing as "the" science. Drawing on the case of adolescent vaccination against Covid-19, I argue that the best that any scientific advisory group can do is to offer a partial perspective on reality. In turn, this has important implications for how we think about science and politics. 

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03

03

Protein self-assembly – understanding and controlling the machinery of life

Professor Tuomas Knowles

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

Proteins are the active molecules of life. However, most proteins do not work on their own in health or disease; a key challenge, therefore, is understanding how these molecules interact with each other to give rise to function or malfunction. This talk will outline our efforts to discover, understand and use the basic principles that drive protein assembly into larger scale structures and phases. I will discuss how controlling transitions between such phases can help us ameliorate biological malfunction when it occurs in disease, and well as develop new classes of functional materials.

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