Our Cambridge forum in November at Newnham College
Our 'science cities' forum in November will now be held at Newnham College, Cambridge, in the brand new conference rooms in the Dorothy Garrod Building, Sidgwick Avenue.The building opened in 2018 and was awarded the RIBA East 'Building of the Year 2019' award.
The College worked with Walters & Cohen Architects, BHSLA Landscape Architects, Savills and other specialist consultants to produce the outstanding design and energy efficiency for the new building. The College's alumnae include Lucy Wills, the haematologist, novelist A.S. Byatt, actor and screen writer Emma Thompson, politician Diane Abbott, the DNA chemist Rosalind Franklin and the primatologist Jane Goodall.
The Office for Life Sciences' Director Tamsin Berry will be speaking at our forum on the growth of life science clusters in the UK, along with the search for international talent and the city environments that encourage innovation and collaboration, while creating a high quality environment for the people that work and live there.
Other contributors will include Dr Bruno Holthof (CEO, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust), Alex van Someren (Managing Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners), Dr David Hardman (CEO Innovation Birmingham), Rory Maw (Board Director, The Oxford Science Park and Bursar, Magdalen College Oxford University), Hon. Matthew Bullock (Transforming Pathology Partnership and Master of St. Edmund’s College Cambridge) Stephen Kelly, Director of Planning & Economy, Cambridge City Council, Vicky Stubbs (Chief Risk Officer of the Cambridge Building Society) Simon Payne, (CEO of Lambsquay Consulting) and Julia Foster (Managing Partner of planning consultancy David Lock Associates).
The themes are an expansion of the knowledge cluster and R&D partnership discussions that Future Cities Forum held with Imperial College London (John Francis, Head of Financial Strategy), developer Mitsui Fudosan, David Probert (CEO of Moorfields Eye Hospital) and also Peter Ward, Head of Real Estate Development at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust earlier this year and in October 2018.
Questions to be covered at the Cambridge event will include: With the interest in the growth of science hubs, how do cities accommodate incoming talent? How can we ensure the best opportunities for R&D and tech transfer collaboration across public and private sectors, especially in biosciences and life sciences? How does the growth of knowledge hubs shape a city’s architecture and planning? What are the discussions that councils need to have with developers, investors and urban infrastructure experts to protect cities and plan future needs – across technology, transport and housing? How do we plan for disease control in city populations and cyber-attacks to our healthcare systems? How will Brexit affect the science brain drain and the influx of medicines to cities? How can arts and sciences combine to build the strength of a city’s identity and sustainable culture?
The forum is being supported by round table discussions both before and after the conference and there will be a workshop exercise at the event involving all guests and contributors to draw together research for the Future Cities Forum on-line community.