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Look who’s talking

27 Sep 2012

Can we eliminate infectious disease? Is innovation stagnating just when we need it most? Why and how does space travel fit into our global transport priorities? These are just some of the questions a number of internationally renowned experts will be exploring at our Oxford Martin School lecture series this term.

Our speakers include the person largely credited with eradicating small pox from the planet, renowned technology entrepreneurs including two of PayPal’s co-founders and the man behind the first private space exploration programme, two international chess champions, and the tech visionary and founder of the Oxford Martin School.

Events registration is now open. To hear from those driving some of the most exciting ideas about our global future, then click on the links below.

Dr Larry Brilliant, President of the Skoll Global Threats Fund and former Director of google.org, will be discussing Pandemics, asking “Can we eliminate major worldwide epidemics?” Focussing on the incredible advances we have made in combating infectious disease and how we can apply past successes to future challenges (he was a key figure in the small pox eradication programme), the lecture will be followed by a panel discussion with Professor David Heymann, Chair of the Board, Health Protection Agency; Professor Adrian Hill, Professor of Human Genetics, and Co-Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Vaccines; and Professor Rodney Phillips, Professor of Clinical Medicine, and Co-Director of the Institute for Emerging Infections, University of Oxford.

‘Is the current growth crisis a result of decades of technological stagnation in a risk-averse society?’ is the question posed by chess champion and political activist Garry Kasparov and technology entrepreneur Peter Thiel in the coming Oxford Union debate, The Innovation Enigma. Countering their arguments will be Professor Kenneth Rogoff, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University and Mark Shuttleworth, technology entrepreneur and founder of the Ubuntu project.

Dr James Martin, founder of the Oxford Martin School, will explore the extreme paradigm shifts that lay ahead of us if we are to achieve The Transformation of Humankind.  Martin argues that technology has enabled this transformation which is being driven by many other factors. But we are making massive mistakes which need to be evaluated and corrected before it is too late.

Elon Musk, of Tesla Motors, SpaceX and SolarCity fame, will speak from his experiences about The Future of Energy and Transport. At the forefront of technology and innovation Musk will reveal what kind of technological transformations are just around the corner and how these can help address the world's critical challenges.

For more information about all our forthcoming events, go to our events page.