RSE/RAEng James Watt Lecture - Inspiration and Innovation: the role of Grand Challenges
RSE/RAEng James Watt Lecture - Inspiration and Innovation: the role of Grand Challenges
Date: Wednesday 05 June 2019
Time: 18:00 - 19:30
Venue: Sir Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre
Category: Ceremonial events, Public lectures
Speaker: Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FREng FRS
Website: www.rse.org.uk/event/inspiration-and-innovation-the-role-of-grand-challenges/
Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FREng FRS, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, will be delivering this year’s RAEng/RSE Joint Lecture, hosted by the University of Glasgow on Wednesday 5 June 2019. Chaired by Professor Dame Anne Glover FRS FRSE, President, The Royal Society of Edinburgh, the event will also see an honorary degree conferred to Dame Ann.
During the course of the lecture, Dame Ann Dowling will explore the role of grand challenges in inspiring and driving progress in engineering, building on her own experience of being attracted into engineering to work on Concorde, one of the most inspirational engineering projects of its day. Like the Apollo programme, Concorde captured the imagination of a generation and enthused many people to take up careers in engineering and science. Innovations developed as part of these and other landmark projects can have far-reaching impacts and help to solve problems across many different fields.
Dame Ann will also evaluate how government can best support innovation, including the contribution of an effective industrial strategy and the importance of collaboration both for growing national and global economies and achieving sustainable development.
Prior to the Lecture, the University will also be hosting the James Watt Bicentenary Symposium, a one-day event, to mark the legacy of James Watt and explore the future opportunities and challenges for Engineering. Speakers from academia, industry and the public sector will present on a broad range of topics including James Watt’s legacy, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, space technology, bioengineering, healthcare, water resources and energy systems.