Professor Brian Cox launches our ‘Lockdown Lectures’ series

15 May 2020

Join some of the nation’s foremost scientists, thinkers, historians and social commentators for some informal lectures from the comfort of your own home

The nation’s favourite physicist is launching our Lockdown Lectures at 12 noon on Monday, 18 May. You will be able to watch the episode online as well as through our social media platforms.

Professor Cox will be followed every Monday and Wednesday by a host of University researchers, scientists and academics. These include internationally renowned historians and broadcasters Professors David Olusoga and Michael Wood; Nobel Prize-winner Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov who co-discovered graphene; and multi-award-winning journalist turned Professor of Sociology, Gary Younge. Professor Danielle George MBE, who led the Robot Orchestra project, and our President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell will also deliver lectures.

Completing the line-up is Professor Sir Cary Cooper, 50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health, who has been one of the media's most in-demand commentators since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Professor Perdita Barran, whose ground-breaking research looks at identifying Parkinson's disease symptoms using the sense of smell, and Professor Dan Davis, author of The Beautiful Cure and The Compatibility Gene.

The Lockdown Lectures tell the stories of what inspired some of our most high-profile researchers to pursue their career or research specialism. The series is part of a wider campaign highlighting the impact of our research, teaching and social responsibility activities in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The videos have been created to entertain, educate, and inspire everyone at home during the lockdown and, potentially create a new generation of academics and scientists.

Our current schedule for the Lockdown Lectures is as follows:

18 May – Professor Brian Cox, Professor of Particle Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy
20 May – Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Physiology
22 May – Professor Sir Cary Cooper CBE, 50th Anniversary Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at Alliance Manchester Business School
27 May – Nobel Prize-winning physicist Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov
1 June – Professor Danielle George MBE, Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering
3 June – Award-winning author, broadcaster and columnist Professor Gary Younge, Professor of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences
8 June – Professor Perdita Barran, Professor of Mass Spectrometry and Director of the Michael Barber Centre for Collaborative Mass Spectrometry
10 June – Historian, broadcaster and film-maker Professor David Olusoga OBE – Professor of Public History
15 June – Professor Dan Davis, Professor of Immunology and Director of Research in the Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research
17 June – Historian and broadcaster Professor Michael Wood, Professor in Public History

President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, said: “Knowledge, wisdom and humanity are three core principles that drive everything we do at the University, and we wanted to continue that sense of social responsibility online during the current lockdown.

“These Lockdown Lectures are a great and fun way of doing just that. They also give a small snapshot of the exciting research that some of our staff do at the University. I sincerely hope people enjoy watching them as much as we did making them.

“I’m sure this handful of inspirational researchers will excite the next generation of academics, who could one day be part our University community.”