Agile Rabbit

In this timely talk, Professor Tamsin Ford discusses mental health and its relationship to education. She gets behind the headlines, asking if there is a mental health crisis for children and young people. Tamsin has been part of the team that carries out the official national, annual survey of children’s mental health since it began. Her research informs policy for health services and schools in the UK. Recently, Professor Tamsin Ford was awarded a CBE for her pioneering work on the mental health of children. We’ll discover how her vital research has found its way into the real world—impacting the services for children and young people.

Recent groundbreaking discoveries support the view that our universe is part of a larger cosmic structure: a multiverse. Gravitational anomalies in the structure of our universe are ‘tugs’ exerted by other universes. These exciting theories are indicated by the work of our speaker, Professor Laura Mersini-Houghton. She’s a super-star scientist whose been interviewed by Jeremy Paxman, worked with Stephen Hawking and appeared with Morgan Freeman on Through The Wormhole. Predictions of her multiverse theory have been successfully tested by the Planck satellite and at CERN by the Large Hadron Collider, genuinely making new contributions to our understanding of nature of space and time, dark energy, and quantum physics.

We are living through disruption to politics and society. Increasingly this is delivered by individuals proudly claiming their rights to free speech. Should individual rights always take precedence over collective, social responsibility? Despite its flaws, do we need to defend political correctness in a turbulent world?

Explore South West launches with a lively public panel discussion on the topic “Is there anything left to explore in the 21st century?”. “The glory-seeking adventurer of old is giving way to explorers who want to understand the planet rather than dominate it.” This is how The Economist heralded the New Age of Discovery. Panel members will explain why the need to explore has never been more urgent and relevant, and how, in their own work they are contributing to a greater understanding of our planet through their discoveries. Chaired by Ritula Shah, BBC Radio 4 presenter, The World Tonight. Panel members include Faraz Shibli, Johanna Wadsley, Sam Lee & Niall McCann. This Friday night lecture preludes a one day seminar the following day: Explore South West at Exeter University, for anyone planning expeditions and field research overseas, with a focus on self-led student projects. The discussion is followed by a performance by folk singer and naturalist Sam Lee.

The sale of shark meat in fish and chip shops was dramatically uncovered by a team at the University of Exeter, led by Dr Andrew Griffiths. Andrew will tell the story behind his headline-grabbing work that recently identified threatened sharks on sale to the British public. The wonderful diversity of sharks and rays around the UK and their decline are Andrew’s passion. He will describe how genetic approaches – based at looking at a shark’s DNA – provide unique insights into the ecology and conservation of this animal that we find so fascinating.

Steve explains how he has pioneered new ways of listening to the ocean and of interacting with fish (including underwater puppetry), to understand whole soundscapes and to unlock the language of fish. He also discusses his engagement with key marine industries, which aims to reduce and manage human noise pollution in the quest for quieter seas. Steve’s research was featured in David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef series in 2015, and his work on underwater noise pollution screened in the final Episode of Blue Planet II. Previously this series of talks was under the branding of Intrepid Explorers Exeter

Dr Ceri Lewis (University of Exeter) talking at Exeter Intrepid Explorers in March 2018. Ceri Lewis shares her stories of her exciting field work in the arctic on the Catlin Arctic Survey. The Catlin Arctic Survey was an exciting multidisciplinary expedition, in which scientists and explorers investigated ocean acidification processes and their impact on marine organisms. The field trip involved camping on the sea ice in unheated tents at -40°C while collecting vital data. Ceri talks about the importance of the science conducted on this expedition, the challenges of working at a low temperature and key findings of her work. Previously this series of talks was under the branding of Intrepid Explorers Exeter

Helen spent a year living in an Owambo homestead in the remote North of Namibia. There, she conducted anthropological and biblical research into the relationship between African Traditional Religion and Christianity. An inexperienced fieldwork researcher at the outset, Helen encountered many highs and lows and, despite her best efforts, was challenged by the circumstances on numerous occasions. Helen was welcomed into a wonderful host family and community. In this talk, Helen will tell tales from the year, illustrating the unpredictable and challenging nature of fieldwork, as well as what she has learned for her next expedition. Previously this series of talks was under the branding of Intrepid Explorers Exeter

Dr. Inma Adarves-Yorno is a mindfulness meditator, TED speaker, researcher, and trainer. She has witnessed the transformational power of mindfulness when aligned with a meaningful social identity. In this talk, Inma tells the fascinating story of the successes and failures of a mindfulness movement in Kenyan prisons. The first part of Inma’s story will focus on the largest maximum security prison where the ingenious mindful leadership programme was born: inmates were transformed onto mindful leaders. She will also talk about disappointing long term impact in a female prison, where ‘mindful screaming’ was born and a seemly great failure in the worst prison in Kenya. Inma details how mindfulness is now moving beyond prisons walls to elsewhere in Kenyan society. Want to learn more about mindful leaders in Kenya? -----> http://sites.exeter.ac.uk/mindfulleaderskenya/ Previously this series of talks was under the branding of Intrepid Explorers Exeter

Pen Hadow is one of the world’s leading explorers. In 2003 Pen Hadow became the first person to trek solo, and without resupply, across the Arctic Ocean’s sea ice from Canada to the North Geographic Pole – a feat that has never been repeated. But of the 850 hours spent hauling his sledge, over 30 hours were in the water. It led to a revelation that big environmental changes were taking place. The sea ice cover, previously in effect creating a protected marine reserve, was now receding. With it, the habitat was going, one that provides to a unique ecosystem that includes some of the largest, the longest-living, best-loved, and the least-researched animals on Earth. Pen reflects on the significant discoveries made by Arctic Mission last summer, and encourages all who listen to consider that exploration has never been more important or urgent in human history, if we are to live sustainably. Previously this series of talks was under the branding of Intrepid Explorers Exeter

In this Agile Rabbit podcast, Professor John Ellis CBE from CERN asks the fundamental questions about the Universe and our place within it ~ questions that humans have been asking for hundreds of thousands of years. John Ellis is a theoretical physicist interested in particle physics, astrophysics, cosmology and quantum gravity. For many years he worked for CERN, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva.

World famous anthropologist Maurice Bloch asks : why is it so easy, when we go to somewhere which the tourist industry would describe as very exotic, to get on with people? Part of the answer is that remote people are much less different than we might, at first, believe and that modern society is much less different than is often assumed. This argument is illustrated with examples from Madagascar.

Can our economic, social, and environmental systems work so that the most responsible choices we make are also the easiest, cheapest, and most obvious? Often when we are faced with environmental or social problems, we find that changing our own actions can initially feel satisfying, but this can sometimes lead to a feeling that the difference we are making has little impact on the wider issues that we were aiming to resolve. Should we hold out hope for a cumulative effect, or do we need the wider mechanics of our society to alter to engender meaningful change? Or is waiting for society to change a way of absolving personal responsibility? Natalie Bennett, former leader of the Green Party, explores these question in this Agile Rabbit talk, followed by questions and bar-room discussion and socialising.