2022 Haldane Lecture

Professor Sir Chris Whitty will deliver the 2022 Haldane Lecture entitled "The role of science in national and international emergencies".

The lecture will take place in the Leonard Wolfson Auditorium (LWA). The lecture will also be livestreamed on YouTube here.

Booking is not required but please note that the College operates a mandatory indoor face coverings and one-metre social distancing policy. We can therefore offer up to 70 seats in the LWA with additional overflow seating in the Buttery. Please note that In-person attendance is restricted to University and College members and their guests; attendees should bring their University card with them on the night. 

The Haldane Lecture is given by a speaker of international standing in the field of science each Hilary Term. It is named after J. S. and J. B. S. Haldane, who carried out a number of pioneering experiments in the house that formerly stood on the College site.

Please see lecture abstract below:

Predicting, preventing and responding to major emergencies requires a strong scientific basis in addition to well executed operational capacity. Emergencies are the time governments and agencies most predictably turn to scientific advice, and a well executed operational response to an emergency will fail if is it based on incorrect technical understanding. This is particularly the case of natural emergencies including physical (earthquakes, tsunamis), metrological (floods, storms and droughts) and infectious epidemics. Science advice in emergencies generally has to operate in a framework of considerable uncertainty. This lecture will consider different types of emergency, and the scientific underpinnings of a response including examples of different types of emergency from the last 2 decades.