The Annual Margaret Savigear Lectures
Event details
Description
The Margaret Savigear Lectures acknowledge the importance of role models to the next generation of scientists by explicitly increasing the visibility of women biologists and celebrates the importance of mentors.
The format is to invite inspirational female academics representing an early and a later career stage. Margaret Savigear received her BSc from what was then the Department of Zoology in 1939, and was awarded an MSc in 1949. Her pursuit of a postgraduate degree was unusual at the time and supported by the then Head of Department, Leonard ES Eastham.
In recognition of Professor Eastham's inspiration and mentoring, Mrs Savigear donated to the department to establish the Leonard Eastham prize for final year undergraduates to undertake a Zoology research project.
The lectures will be followed by a frank and illuminating Q&A session. This is a fantastic opportunity to ask the speakers about their research, career and get advice. Our aim with these events is to offer inspiring role models for our researchers, especially those early in their careers.
(Talks will be available online via google meet - please see the event invite in the School of Biosciences calendar for the link.)
Schedule
| Time | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1.00pm - 1.10pm | Introductions | Alfred Denny Conference Room |
| 1.10pm - 2.00pm | Speaker: Dr Lorna Street (University of Edinburgh) Will greening northern ecosystems store more carbon? Abstract: In this talk I will explore the expected future carbon balance of treeless northern ecosystems. The "greening" of these ecosystems can result from, for example, the "shrubification" of tundra due to warming temperatures, or from changing land management, such as the afforestation of the Scottish uplands. In both cases, increases in woody vegetation are generally expected—or designed—to enhance ecosystem carbon storage. But is this expectation valid? And if not, how worried should we be? | Alfred Denny Conference Room |
| 2.10pm - 3.00pm | Speaker: Professor Rachel Kendal (Durham University) The adaptive use of social learning Abstract: Social learning (learning from others) underlies the wide-spread occurrence of traditions or culture in all animals, including humans. Although social learning is a cheap and efficient form of learning, it is not adaptive to use it indiscriminately due to its potential unreliability. Accordingly, transmission biases (or social learning strategies) enable individuals to avoid the costs associated with asocial learning and influence when they use social information and from whom they acquire it. Investigation of these biases has increased rapidly over the course of my career. I shall review several of my empirical studies, with non-humans and children, highlighting the potential role of transmission biases in the establishment of cultural traditions and in humanity’s striking capacity for cumulative culture. I will also touch on relatively new research angles to do with the potential for applying knowledge of transmission biases to societal issues and enhancing equity diversity and inclusion (EDI) in funding processes and research. Throughout, I will highlight my career journey and include tips I’ve learnt (often socially!) along the way. | Alfred Denny Conference Room |
| 3.00pm - 3.30pm | Refreshments and informal discussions | Alfred Denny Conference Room |
| 3.30pm - 4.15pm | Q&A with early career researchers | Alfred Denny Conference Room |