Outreach
As well as doing research I am also actively involved in science communication to general audiences, particularly young people.
Here is a
recent article (pages 26 and 27) setting out some thoughts on the
reasons for the dramatic decline in the numbers of young people
studying computer science over the last decade.
2010 saw the 350th anniversary of the
Royal Society,
and the centrepiece of its celebrations were the
2010 Summer
Science Exhibition. Microsoft Research was selected to present a
display at the Exhibition, entitled
Embracing Uncertainty: the New Machine Intelligence.
In 2008 I had the privilege of presenting the
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures with the title Hi-tech Trek: The Quest for the Ultimate Computer.
The lectures were broadcast on UK national television at prime time on
five successive evenings during the Christmas period. This
was the 180th series of such lectures, which were started in 1825 by
Michael Faraday.
You can watch the complete lectures below. For Apple users please download the Windows Media plug-in.
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Breaking the
Speed Limit
Lecture 1
High | Low |
Chips With
Everything
Lecture 2
High | Low |
The Ghost in
the Machine
Lecture 3
High | Low |
Untangling
the Web
Lecture 4
High | Low |
Digital
Intelligence
Lecture 5
High | Low |
Here is a selection of short clips taken from the lectures:
Exponential Growth (Lecture 1)
How to Make a Microprocessor(Lecture 1)
Wearable Computers (Lecture 2)
Surface Computer (Lecture 2)
Swinging Ball of Death (Lecture 3)
Interview with Bill Gates (Lecture 3)
Key Exchange (Lecture 4)
Whole-audience Control of a Racing Game (Lecture 5)
There is also an interactive web site associated with the 2008 lectures, which includes 10 games illustrating concepts from computer science, and 10 downloadable files giving details of experiments and demonstrations that can be done at home or in school.
Four of the lectures were given again in Tokyo in July 2009, and
subsequently broadcast on Japanese television. This was the 20th
anniversary year of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures being given
in Japan. You can watch the Tokyo lectures (in English, or in Japanese)
using the following links:
More Videos
Here are two more videos that illustrate different aspects of
computer science. The first looks at how a modern satellite navigation
system is able to make use of real-time data from mobile phones, while
the second looks at how computers can learn from experience by modelling
uncertainty.
Hi-tech race: SatNav versus London Cabbie
Embracing Uncertainty: How a Computer Can Learn to Be Intelligent
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Major Outreach Lectures and Presentations
March 2011, Cambridge Science Festival
June
2011, Cheltenham Science Festival
July 2010, Royal Society 350th
anniversary Summer Exhibition
June 2010, Cheltenham Science Festival
March
2010, Cambridge Science Festival
December 2009,
Tam Dalyell Prize lecture (Edinburgh)
December 2009,
Marshalls Holiday Lecture (Cambridge)
December 2009, Think
Computer Science (Cambridge)
November 2009,
Pre-Christmas Lecture, The Royal
Institution
July 2009, Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, Japan (Tokyo and
Osaka)
June 2009, Cheltenham Science Festival
April 2009, Edinburgh Science Festival
March 2009, Culham Science Centre, Oxfordshire
March 2009, Cambridge Science Festival
December 2008, Royal Institution Christmas
Lectures, London
March 2008, Edinburgh Science Festival
November 2007, Friday Evening Discourse, The
Royal Institution
September 2006, British Science Association,
Festival of Science, Norwich
September 1994, British Science Association,
Festival of Science, Loughborough
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