Cambridge University nurtures and challenges the world's greatest minds, and offers the deepest understanding of the most intractable problems and the most thrilling opportunities. And for one week a year they bring that thinking to a field in Wales and share it with everyone. That's a wonderful gift.
- Peter Florence
A record number of Cambridge academics will take part in this year’s Hay Festival, one of the most prestigious literary festivals in the world.
This is the eighth year running that the Series has formed part of the festival. This year it features a range of speakers, from experts on climate change, robotics, maternal health and risk to Classics, European politics, nuclear power, playfulness in education and digital media.
The Series is part of the University of Cambridge’s commitment to public engagement. The Festival runs from 26th May to 5th June and is now open for bookings. Twenty-seven academics from the University of Cambridge and several alumni will be speaking.
This year's line-up includes Professor Peter Mandler on education and social mobility; Professor Ashley Moffett on immunity in pregnancy; Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, on addiction, obesity and employment; Professor Susan Gathercole on working memory; Fumiya Iida on robot intelligence; Professor Paul Cartledge on ancient Greek democracy; Professor Eric Wolff on climate change, past, present and future; Professor Jim Huntington on breakthrough research into blood clotting and how the insights are being used to prevent heart attacks and stroke; Topun Austin on the development of the human brain; Kathelijne Koops on what chimpanzees and bonobos can tell us about human culture; Suman-Lata Sahonta on LEDs; and Giles Yeo on genetic predisposition to obesity. Dr Yeo will be presenting a BBC Horizon programme on his research in June. Neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow also returns after being singled out as one of the highlights of Hay 2015.
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Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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