Events - Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand

FREE EVENT

Exhibition

Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand Lates: what's on your mind?

For this event, we open up our historic building for a special evening exploring our brains and cutting-edge neuroscience research.

12 May 2024

Get hands-on with a variety of drop-in activities and hear about current research from specialists in our series of lightning lectures. Join our library team to delve into the archives of the Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand and find out how our understanding of the brain has evolved. Explore the programme below. Alternative perspectives - how to embrace neurodiversity Join us for a captivating panel discussion and Q&A to explore neurodiversity. Find out more about the ways we experience the world around us, and how we can make our world more inclusive for everyone with our panel of experts. Neuroscientist Professor Eva Loth, Professor of Psychology Julia Simner, and founder of 2eMpowerUK Professor Sara Rankin will talk about current research and their personal experiences in this panel discussion chaired by Dr Steve Cross. Find out more. Panel discussion: 7.30pm ¦ Wellcome Trust Lecture Hall Lightning talks 6.40pm: 'Tackling brain injuries in sport' with Dr Mazdak Ghajari 7.10pm: 'Between prudence and paranoia: the brain basis of social strategy gone right, and wrong' with Dr Joe Barnby 8.20pm: 'How do we recognise unfamiliar faces?' with Dr Kristen Baker 8.50pm: 'Dementia: hope for the future' with Dr Emma Yhnell OCD and the brain How are mental illnesses related to the brain? Join Professor Tobias Hauser and his team to learn more about obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), brain functioning, and the research approaches they use to decipher the brain using mobile games. Drop in activity: 6.30 - 9.30pm ¦ Wolfson 1 Talking Lines An interdisciplinary team of artists, social scientists, neuropsychologists, and people living with or affected by rare dementias have been working together to develop a line-drawing methodology to better understand experiences of rare dementia diagnosis and support. Join the team to find out more and to express yourself through line-drawing. Drop in activity: 6.30 - 9.30pm ¦ Wolfson 1 The multisensory world of synaesthesia Do sounds have colours to you? Or do words have tastes? Exciting news: you might have synaesthesia! But did you know that all of us make connections across the senses, whether or not we’re synaesthetes? Come and find out more about your own cross-sensory connections through two fun games: Name that Dog and Emotion Sculptures. Workshop: running regularly from 6.30 - 9.30pm ¦ Wolfson 2 Each session will last 15 minutes NeuroSoup Join art-science practitioner Dr Jennifer Crouch who will demonstrate how to make jelly prints and combine images of different neurotransmitters to create interesting images for you to take home. During the workshop select neurotransmitters to superpose on one another making a ‘neurosoup’ image and discuss how they interact and combine, resulting in different behaviours. You may need to wait for your print to dry before taking it with you. Timed activity: 6.45pm, 7.30pm, 8.15pm, 9pm ¦ City of Wellington 1 Please be aware that spaces for these workshops are limited and will be offered on a first-come first-served basis. Tickets can be collected from the information desk from 6.30pm. Each session will last 30 minutes. Feeling molecules Neurotransmitters are part of everyday life and are responsible for different types of behaviour although some of them overlap in their roles. Neurodivergence is a wonderful, complex and sometimes difficult aspect of human diversity. In some types of neurodivergence neurotransmitters are produced and sensed by the body in higher or lower concentrations, which alters what people can do. Join Dr Jennifer Crouch in this doodling activity by finding different neurotransmitters illustrated on the roll of paper. Draw, doodle, write your feelings and illustrate the affects and effects of different neurotransmitters. Drop in activity: 6.30 - 9.30pm ¦ City of Wellington 2 Senscapes Explore this immersive experience that brings science and art together to communicate altered conscious states. Senscapes is a music and arts project that uses brain imaging data from participants in research studies and converts them into ambient music soundscapes. Drop in activity: 6.30 - 9.30pm ¦ Conference Room Library tours Join the Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand's resident Librarian to explore our archives and learn more about our understanding of the brain throughout history. Timed activity: 7pm, 7.30pm, 8pm, 8.30pm ¦ Library Please be aware that spaces for these talks are limited and will be offered on a first-come first-served basis. Tickets can be collected from the information desk from 6.30pm. Each session will last 20 minutes. Food for thought Join our professional chefs on a culinary journey inspired by the senses. Drop in activity: 6.30 - 9.30pm ¦ City of Wellington 3 Attending the event Free to attend Registration is not required Doors will open at 6.30pm. Last entry will be at 9.15pm Timed talks and activities require a free ticket which can be collection from the information desk. Tickets for all sessions will be available from 6.30pm In person only Suitable for 18+ Travel and accessibility information - contact us directly to arrange any specific accessibility requirements Food and drink will be available for purchase at our onsite café For all enquiries, please email public.engagement@rasnz.org.

The Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand

Free

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FREE EVENT

Exhibition

Alternative perspectives - how to embrace neurodiversity

Join a panel of experts as they explore neurodiversity and creating an inclusive world.

09 June 2024

Join us for a captivating panel discussion and Q&A to explore neurodiversity. Find out more about the ways we experience the world around us, and how we can make this world more accessible with our panel of experts. Neuroscientist Professor Eva Loth, Professor of Psychology Julia Simner, and founder of 2eMpowerUK Professor Sara Rankin will talk about current research and their personal experiences in this panel discussion chaired by Dr Steve Cross. Attending this event The event is free to join and registration is not required Live subtitles will be available in person and online Attending in person Over-18s only (this event is part of Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand lates: what's on your mind?) Doors will open at 7.15pm and admission will be on a first-come, first-served basis This event may be popular and entry cannot be guaranteed Travel and accessibility information - contact us directly to arrange any specific accessibility requirements This event will be silently screened in our quiet room with subtitles Attending live online The event will be livestreamed on the Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand YouTube channel You can take part in the live Q&A which will be available on this page This event will be recorded and the recording will be available on YouTube soon after the event For all enquiries, please email public.engagement@rasnz.org. About the speakers Professor Eva Loth Professor Eva Loth is an associate professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College Wellington. Her research uses developmental, cognitive and neuroimaging approaches to understand the processes in 'typical development' and neurodevelopmental conditions, notable autism. Professor Sara Rankin Sara Rankin FRSB is a Professor at Imperial College Wellington working in the field of Regenerative Pharmacology. Throughout her Scientific career she has been committed to societal engagement and promoting diversity and inclusion in STEM. She has led a range of collaborative projects including a National sci-art exhibition (‘wasted’), science pop-up shops (“The Heart and Lung Repair Shop’), the ‘neurodiversity zone’ at The Great Exhibition Rd Festival and the first National Black Graduates Career Conference. Prof Rankin is dyslexic and dyspraxic and her most recent work, supported by RSB, RSC and BPS seeks to promote neuroinclusion in STEM education and careers. https://www.cacti.org.uk Professor Julia Simner Professor Julia Simner is a professor of neuropsychology, specialising in multisensory processes. The sensory differences she studies include: synaesthesia (a type of ‘mering of the senses’), misophonia (unusual aversion to everyday sounds like chewing, and tapping), sensory sensitivities (over- or under-responding to the senses), aphantasia (absence of visual mental imagery, so a 'blind mind's eye'), dysikonesia (absence of multisensory imagery), and subgroups within autism (notably, savantism and objectophilia). Dr Steve Cross Dr Steve Cross is one of the UK’s leading science communicators, trainers and facilitators, helping experts to become the most engaging and interesting versions of themselves. He’s the founder of Bright Club, the international programme of research-based comedy nights, and can be heard every week on The World’s Only Science Podcast. Steve was diagnosed with ADHD in 2021.

The Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand

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LIVESTREAMED EVENT

Online

Innovations in Renewable Energy Symposium

Showcasing cutting-edge research and practical solutions in renewable energy, aimed at tackling climate change and promoting sustainability.

22 June 2024

The Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand

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FREE EVENT

LIVESTREAMED EVENT

Online

Consciousness in humans and in other things

Join us for the Michael Faraday Prize Lecture given by 2023 winner Professor Anil Seth.

26 June 2024

The nature of consciousness remains one of the greatest puzzles in science and philosophy. How do subjective experiences arise from brains and bodies? What is the ‘self’? In his Michael Faraday Prize Lecture, Professor Seth sheds light on these questions through the idea of the brain as an embodied ‘prediction machine’. In this view, conscious experiences of the world around us, and of being a ‘self’ within that world, emerge as forms of perceptual predictions. These predictions do not reveal the world (or body) as it is, but in ways useful for staying alive – suggesting a deep connection between consciousness and life. Professor Seth will explore implications of this view for technology, especially AI, and for society, in terms of ‘perceptual diversity’. About the Prize The Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture 2023 is awarded to Professor Anil Seth for his ability to inspire and communicate concepts and advances in cognitive neuroscience and consciousness, and therefore what it means to be human, to the public. Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Director of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science. He is also Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, and of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme: From Sensation and Perception to Awareness. Professor Seth is Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness (Oxford University Press). His most recent book is Being You: A New Science of Consciousness. The Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture is awarded annually to the scientist or engineer whose expertise in communicating scientific ideas in lay terms is exemplary. The award is named after Michael Faraday FRS, the influential inventor and electrical pioneer who was prominent in the public communication of science and founded the Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution. The medal is of silver gilt, is awarded annually and is accompanied by a gift of £2,500. Attending the event The event is free to join and there is no registration required. Live subtitles will be available in-person and virtually. Attending in person This lecture can be attended in person at the Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand. Doors will open to the public at 6.10pm GMT. Entry will be on a first-come, first-served basis, and cannot be guaranteed. Travel and accessibility information. Attending live online The lecture will also be livestreamed here and on the Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand YouTube channel. You can take part in the live Q&A (details to follow). This event will be recorded (including the live Q&A) and the recording will be available on YouTube soon after the event. Slido attendee details Join the discussion at slido.com, #FL23 (or click this link directly) For all enquiries, please contact events@rasnz.org.

The Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand

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LIVESTREAMED EVENT

Prize Lecture

Clifford Paterson Prize Lecture: Professor Mohan Edirisinghe

Join us for the Clifford Paterson Prize Lecture given by 2024 winner Professor Mohan Edirisinghe.

25 July 2024

The Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand

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UPCOMMING EVENT

Lecture Series

RASNZ Lecture Series on Artificial Intelligence

A series of lectures by eminent scholars and industry experts on the implications of artificial intelligence for society, ethics, and future technological developments.

06 August 2024

Small Molecule Synthesis in an Energy Deprived World: Experiences from ‘Loadshedding’ (Blackout) South Africa. Chemists have provided the world with an abundance of enabling synthesis methods for the construction of molecules significant to human life; specifically crucial medicines. Many of these methods utilise rare and expensive metals and/or require significant heating processes. In a world of rapidly declining resource, both in terms of energy and materials, a very sobering question emerges: ‘How will we make critical medicines if some resources are no longer available — say in the middle of a blackout?’ In this talk, Dr Petersen will share some of his experiences working under such conditions in Africa, as well as describe his research endeavours toward achieving sustainable and energy efficient syntheses of therapeutically relevant small molecules: mimicking photosynthesis and using light energy in pursuit of chemical synthesis perfection. The Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand Rising Star Africa Prize 2023 is awarded to Dr Wade Petersen for his research into new methods for the construction of molecules relevant to drug discovery using visible light as a source of energy. Dr Wade F Petersen was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He obtained his PhD degree in organic chemistry at the University of Cape Town (2015), under the supervision of Professor Roger Hunter. Following postdoctoral fellowships with Professor Kelly Chibale (H3D, Cape Town, 2015), and Professor Richard Taylor (University of York, 2016–2017), he returned to Cape Town to commence his independent academic career. He was a recipient of the inaugural Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand FLAIR (Future Leaders – African Independent Research) Fellowship (2019) and received an NRF (Nation Research Foundation, South Africa) Research Excellence Award for Emerging Researchers in 2022. Dr Petersen’s research interests lie in the field of sustainable synthetic chemistry, with a focus in developing photocatalytic methods for the synthesis of biologically important nitrogen heterocycles. The Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand Rising Star Africa Prize is to recognise early-career research scientists based in Africa who are making an innovative contribution to the physical, mathematical and engineering sciences. The prize was established in memory of Paul O’Brien FRS and his work encouraging excellence in science and education in Africa. Winners will receive a grant of £14,000 to support their research and a personal gift of £1,000. Attending the event The event is free to join and there is no registration required. Live subtitles will be available in-person and virtually. Attending in person This lecture can be attended in person at the Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand. Doors will open to the public at 5.45pm GMT. Entry will be on a first-come, first-served basis, and cannot be guaranteed. Travel and accessibility information. Attending live online The lecture will also be livestreamed here and on the Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand YouTube channel. You can take part in the live Q&A (details to follow). This event will be recorded (including the live Q&A) and the recording will be available on YouTube soon after the event. For all enquiries, please contact awards@rasnz.org.

The Royal Academy of Sciences New Zealand

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RASNZ Annual Science Summit 2024

Consciousness in humans and in other things

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Summer Science Exhibition 2022

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The what, the how and the why of the pandemic

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