The Keynote Lecture and exciting and diver full line up for this year’s Research Festival.
This year’s event, which is organised by University College Isle of Man (UCM) in partnership with UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man, will be held on Thursday 16th October and Friday 17th October at the Villa Marina.
The Keynote Lecture, which is Biosphere Isle of Man’s Annual Lecture, will take place at 6pm on the Thursday, and is entitled "Living in a Laboratory: Co-creating the future of the Isle of Man Biosphere”. Presented by Rachel Stevenson and Ruth Tuckett from the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales, the evening will explore what the sustainable future of our island could look like, and how we can make it happen.
The diverse topics focus on the Isle of Man’s Biosphere status, with research being conducted on, about or impacting the Isle of Man, including ‘Misinformation, its socio-cultural implications, and strategies for resilience and counteractions’, ‘Peaceful Connections: Exploring Creativity and Well-being through Biosphere Engagement’, ‘The use of VR and mindful fractals for alleviating menopause symptoms and promoting sexual well-being’, ‘Spuds, herring and Ellan Vannin: exploring local food and drink as tools for social group formation and demarcation on the Isle of Man’ and ‘How to assess the impact and value of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves’.
As well as local researchers and academics, the event will welcome presentations from experts from London Metropolitan University, University of Surrey, Wren Sustainable Limited, Victoria College, London, Keele University, Queen’s University Belfast, Durham University, University of Toulouse and Colorado State University.
UCM’s Higher Education Manager, Gail Corrin, said: ‘Evey year I am elated at the wide-ranging presentations we get at the Research Festival and once again I am delighted that our delegates will enjoy such an interesting and inspiring line up. The interest we get from both on-Island and International speakers really shows how impressive our Biosphere whole nation status is and how influential the Isle of Man can be in Research; we really do punch above our size, which is something we should all celebrate.
‘We’re delighted to be involved in this year’s Research Festival. Most of us think of Research as being for academics, but this event really shows how businesses and individuals can benefit. It really is something we should all be getting involved in to make our Island a successful and vibrant place for the future.’
As well as the presentations, delegates can enjoy a mini-exhibition from Biosphere Isle of Man’s Artist and Photographer in Residence as well as the Manx Graduate Dissertation Competition.