University of Dundee Events – October 2015

posted by Shabnam Wasim, Public Engagement Assistant, University of Dundee

UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE EVENTS – October 2015

TITLE       ISAM Lecture
                  ‘Should drugs be legalised on Scotland?’

Venue/Address  Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee, Old Hawkhill, DD1 5EN
Date and time    Saturday 3rd October 2015, 6pm – 7:30pm

Event/activity/description
Four internationally renowned Scottish figures will participate in the debate for and against the legalisation of drugs in Scotland. Speakers who will argue in favour of legalisation will be retired police inspector Mr Jim Duffy and Dr Brian Kidd, consultant psychiatrist and senior lecturer, University of Dundee. The speakers who will argue against legalisation will be Professor Neil McKeganey, Director of the Centre for Drug Misuse Research and Dr Rowdy Yates, Senior Research Fellow and Facilitator of the Scottish Addiction Studies Group, University of Stirling.

Admission price Free but booking is necessary (see link below)
Contact for further information   Events Office

Telephone No                                 01382 385108/388154
Email                                                 events@dundee.ac.uk
Website
Tickets available at: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/isam-public-debate-should-drugs-be-legalised-in-scotland-tickets-18205476069

TITLE         Dundee Arts Café: Childhood, Youth and Poverty on the Streets of Africa

Venue/Address         The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum, Albert Square, Dundee                                         DD1 1DA
Date and time           Tuesday 6th October 2015, 6pm

Event/activity/description

Child poverty is on the rise.  Poverty is a significant barrier to young people’s well-being whether this be in Dundee, across the UK or the poorest cities across Africa. Now is a timely moment therefore to consider how young people experience poverty and the impact this has for their future adult lives.  Poverty is experienced differently across the World and for many young people living in African cities their lives are lived and experienced on the streets. This creates a unique set of issues and problems for young people around access to shelter, food, safety and money to survive. Through understanding these issues we can more effectively listen to young people regarding their needs as a universal tool for influencing policy across the globe.

This talk from Dr Lorraine van Blerk from the University of Dundee and Dr Wayne Shand explores what life is like for young people growing up on the streets through discussing an innovative longitudinal research project working in Accra, Ghana; Bukavu, DRC and Harare, Zimbabwe. The research investigates the lives of 198 young people over a three year period and takes an innovative participatory and qualitative approach. The research explores poverty, exclusion and homelessness from a capabilities perspective and aims to stimulate debate on the factors that shape life lived on the street and the representation of street children and youth in national and international policy.

The event lasts one hour, and speakers talk passionately about their work for 30 minutes before the floor is opened up to an informal discussion with the audience. All talks take place in The McManus Café, Albert Square, Dundee.

Everyone is welcome. Free. Non-bookable. Places are limited so please arrive early to avoid disappointment. Doors open at 5pm. This event is likely to last one hour.

Admission price        Free, Non-bookable
Website                     www.dundeeartscafe.co.uk


TITLE
                                     Jeanette Winterson: The Gap of Time

Venue/Address         Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee, Old Hawkhill, DD1 5EN
Date and time            Wednesday 7th October 2015, 7pm

Event/activity/ description

In The Gap of Time, Jeanette Winterson’s cover version of The Winter’s Tale, we move from London, a city reeling after the 2008 financial crisis, to a storm-ravaged American city called New Bohemia. Her story is one of childhood friendship, money, status, technology and the elliptical nature of time.

Written with the energy and wit we would expect of the award-winning writer of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Sexing the Cherry and Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, this is a story of the consuming power of jealousy on the one hand, and redemption and the enduring love of a lost child on the other. It’s a very great treat to welcome the tour de force that is Jeanette Winterson to Dundee in this special, pre-festival event.

The Gap in Time is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project, reimagining Shakespeare for 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of his death.

Admission price        Free
Contact for further information      Peggy Hughes, Literary Dundee
Telephone No          01382 386995
Email                          literarydundee@dundee.ac.uk
Website                     https://literarydundee.co.uk/


TITLE
      Cafe Science Dundee: CSI Dundee: New Forensics with iGEM team, University of                      Dundee

Venue/Address         Avery & Co, 34 South Tay St, DD1 1PD
Date and time            Monday 12th October 2015, 7pm

Event/activity/ description

Forensic science is used across the World to provide evidence in courts and can have a strong influence on the court’s decision. However, very few new techniques with a sound scientific basis have been developed in the last 30 years.

A team of undergraduates from the University of Dundee, the iGEM team, aim to create a set of devices known as the ‘Forensic Toolkit’ that will improve the efficiency at which crime scene investigators detect and analyse evidence.

These include a body fluid detector that will identify between different types of bodily fluids; a device that will allows us to investigate between fingerprints that are less than a week old, distinguishing them from older fingerprints in the clear; and a device that detects stainless steel that may be left on bones after knife injuries.

The project is part of the international iGEM competition where the University of Dundee has triumphed in recent years.

Come and find out more from Dundee’s iGEM team about their new forensic tools. Join us at Avery & Co, 34 South Tay Street, Dundee on Monday 12th October 2015, at 7pm. This is a free event and everyone is welcome. There is no need to book in advance but arrive early to avoid disappointment.

Admission price        Free, Non-bookable
Website                           www.cafesciencedundee.co.uk
TITLE             The Dow Memorial Lecture 2015

                       ‘Life and healthcare in the era of cures’

Venue/Address  Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee, Old Hawkhill, DD1 5EN
Date and time    Monday 19th October 2015, 6pm – 7pm

Event/activity/ description

How many diseases can we cure rather than treat? The answer is, not many. By the end of the century will we be able to cure more? If we can, is society prepared to discuss how that is valued, who has access to cures and who should pay for restorative health?

Science is evolving and is offering glimpses of cures in hard-to-treat diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis, some cancers and rare diseases. These will not come without challenging the types of medicines we make and how they are developed. Patrick Vallance, Research and Development lead at GlaxoSmithKline, will highlight the scientific opportunities and the philosophical, ethical and economic questions that society and government will have to face when the prize is much greater.

Admission price Free but booking necessary
Contact for further information    Events Office
Telephone No     01382 385108/388154
Email                     events@dundee.ac.uk
Website                http://www.dundee.ac.uk/events/2015/151019-life-and-healthcare—dow-       lecture.php


TITLE
                        Dundee Literary Festival
Venue/Address  Various Venues across Dundee
Date and time    Wednesday 21st October – Sunday 25th October 2015 

Event/activity/description

Five days of adventures in books in Dundee! This year we invite you to hear from famous faces with incredible debut books, like Nick Frost and Gregor Fisher. Don’t miss iconic, award-winning writers Jackie Kay and Janice Galloway and Jeanette Winterson. Dive into our events with new voices, such as Lucy Ribchester, Malachy Tallack, Catherine Simpson and William Goldsmith. We want you to bring the whole family along – we have events for kids, for comics fans and talks for the curious, whatever you’re curious about, whether that’s the human body or baking, Ladybird books, censorship or suffragettes.

Admission price      Various costs for different events, ranging from free of charge to £5
Contact for further information    Peggy Hughes
Telephone No          01382 386 995
Email                          literarydundee@dundee.ac.uk
Website                     www.literarydundee.co.uk

 

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