Guests will hear from Professor Philip Ingham, FRS the newly appointed Director of the Living Systems Institute.

Exeter’s New Living Systems Institute hosts ‘Global Conversation’

The pioneering and world-leading research conducted at the University of Exeter’s state-of-the-art Living Systems Institute (LSI) will form the basis of the latest high-profile Global Conversation event.

The iconic new research facility, located on the University’s Streatham Campus, will host 100 specially-invited guests at the prominent event, held on Monday, 28 November.

The event, the first Global Conversation to be held on campus, gives the distinguished guests an exclusive opportunity to preview the new £52 million LSI facility, which brings together world-leading scientists and researchers from diverse discipline backgrounds.

The LSI will foster innovative, interdisciplinary research practices, and form an integrated team of scientists with complementary expertise investigating the fundamental cellular processes underlying human, animal and plant disease; translating this knowledge of ‘living systems’ into wider diagnostic and treatment applications.

Attendees at the event will also have the chance to see the innovative construction with its three-storeys of high-quality research labs, bio-imaging facilities and high-performance computing spaces, before its official opening in 2017.

As well as previewing the building, guests will hear from Professor Philip Ingham, FRS the newly appointed Director of the LSI, who will be hosting a discussion on the topic of: “Why does basic research matter and who should fund it?”

During the discussion, Professor Ingham will set out why he believes the Living Systems Institute needs to be a bastion of basic research, not just because the knowledge it generates can lead to unforeseen applications but also because such knowledge has a broader value to society. In addition there will be a question and answer session with a panel of experts in this field.

Introduced a year ago in Hong Kong, the Global Conversation series explores how the University of Exeter, working in collaboration with its partners across the world, is having an impact on many of the shared global challenges we face. Events in the series focus on common issues and problems, from Tackling Dementia to Water Security, and encourage conversation between experts in their fields, guests and a wider public audience.

Launching Global Conversation, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Professor Sir Steve Smith said: “We want to share our thinking and our world-leading research, to open up discussion and debate around these issues. By stimulating conversation between our academics and other leading experts in their fields, we can make a positive contribution to our collective global understanding of issues which affect us all.”

For more information regarding these, and other lectures in the Global Conversation series, either join the conversation on Twitter or book your place at one of our upcoming events.

Date: 28 November 2016