Linacre Lectures 2011: Riding the Perfect Storm

Thursdays at 5.30pm, 27 January to 10 March 2011
Martin Wood Lecture Theatre, Oxford

The theme for the Linacre Lectures 2011 is based upon Chief Science Advisor to the UK Government Professor Sir John Beddington’s “Perfect Storm” idea, first presented in early 2009, that the world is at significant risk of facing multiple interacting environmental and natural resource challenges by 2030. The Perfect Storm scenario is based on the interaction and cross-amplification of emerging food, water and energy shortages, which, on reaching a critical threshold, could lead to public unrest, cross-border conflicts and mass migration.

The Linacre Lectures 2011 ‘Riding the Perfect Storm’ will be held in the Martin Wood Lecture Theatre, Clarendon Laboratory, Dept. of Physics (opposite Keble College), Oxford at 5:30pm on Thursday afternoons from 27 January to 10 March 2011 inclusive.

Further information is available from the University of Oxford Environmental Change Institute.

The dates, titles, and speakers are:

• 27 January 2011
  World on the edge: when will the Big Bubble burst?
  Lester R. Brown, President, Earth Policy Institute, Washington DC
• 3 February 2011
  Sink or swim? Chasing water security in changing climates
  Professor David Grey, Visiting Professor in Water Policy, Oxford University, former World Bank Senior Water Advisor
• 10 February 2011
  Scratch ‘n’ sniff: Emerging infections, why so many?
  Professor Angela McLean, Co-Director, Institute for Emerging Infections, University of Oxford
• 17 February 2011
  The Biodiversity Crisis – Will we turn the corner or go over the precipice?
  Dr Simon Stuart, Chair of the Species Survival Commission, International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Visiting Professor, University of Bath
• 24 February 2011
  The food security challenge: will current institutions provide adequate shelter from the gathering storm?
  Professor Tim Lang, City University London
• 3 March 2011
  A globally sustainable energy system: the economics and politics of the transition
  Professor Paul Ekins, Energy Institute, University College London
• 10 March 2011
  Question Time 2030
  Panel Discussion. Panel to be confirmed

Further reading

• Food, Energy, Water and the Climate: A Perfect Storm of Global Events? by John Beddington CMG FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government
• Professor Sir John Beddington’s original speech at SDUK 09