Cambridge heads for Hay

jfp40 — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 09:20:09 +0000

̽��ֱ��Cambridge Series has been running for six years at the prestigious Festival and is part of the ̽��ֱ��’s commitment to public engagement. ̽��ֱ��Festival runs from 22nd May to 1st June and is now open for bookings.

This year's line-up includes Sir John Gurdon who was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that mature cells can be converted to stem cells. He will talk about his pioneering work on cloning.

Other speakers include Dr Ha-Joon Chang on economics, classicist Professor Paul Cartledge on after Thermopylae, Dame Barbara Stocking, former chief executive of Oxfam GB and president of Murray Edwards College, on the challenges for women in the workplace, Professor Chris Dobson and Dr Mary Dobson on Alzheimer's and other plagues, economist Professor Noreena Hertz on smart thinking and Professor Robert Mair on tunnelling into the future of our cities.

Professor Richard Evans, president of Wolfson College, will talk about the history of conspiracy theories, Dr John Swenson-Wright from the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies will ask if North Korea is the perennial crisis state and Dr Robin Hesketh from the Department of Biochemistry will attempt to demystify cancer.

Several of the talks will take the form of a conversation: Professor Simon Blackburn will debate the uses and abuses of self love with journalist Rosie Boycott; novelist and playwright Biyi Bandele, a former Judith E. Wilson Fellow at Churchill College, will be in conversation with Dr Malachi McIntosh from the Department of English about migrant writing; Professor Henrietta Moore, William Wyse Chair of Social Anthropology, will talk about the future of civil activism with Ricken Patel, founding President of Avaaz, the world's largest online activist community; and psychologist Dr Terri Apter will debate how women follow, resist and play with the stereotypes that define them with author and alumna Zoe Strimpel.

Other Cambridge academics speaking at Hay are Professor Stefan Collini discussing higher education’s two cultures - the humanities and science - and historian Professor David Reynolds.

Peter Florence, director of the Hay Festival, said: "Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� nurtures and challenges the world's greatest minds, and offers the deepest understanding of the most intractable problems and the most thrilling opportunities. And for one week a year they bring that thinking to a field in Wales and share it with everyone. That's a wonderful gift."

Nicola Buckley, head of public engagement at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “ ̽��ֱ��Cambridge series is a wonderful way to share fascinating research from the ̽��ֱ�� with the public. ̽��ֱ��Hay Festival draws an international cross-section of people, from policy makers to prospective university students. We have found that Hay audiences are highly interested in the diversity of Cambridge speakers, and ask some great questions. We look forward to another fantastic series of speakers, with talks and debates covering so many areas of research and key ideas emerging from Cambridge, relevant to key issues faced globally today."

For tickets, go to: www.hayfestival.org

A host of Cambridge academics, including Nobel Laureate Sir John Gurdon, will be speaking on subjects ranging from stem cell technology and Alzheimer’s to the future of North Korea and the history of conspiracy theories at this year’s Hay Festival.

Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� nurtures and challenges the world's greatest minds, and offers the deepest understanding of the most intractable problems and the most thrilling opportunities

Peter Florence, Director of Hay Festival

Hay Festival

Night shot at Hay Festival

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Academic advises on young girls’ body perceptions

bjb42 — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

With the number of children admitted to hospital with eating disorders rising by 80% over the last 10 years, Dr Terri Apter, psychologist and writer conducted the study with Outline Productions for the Channel 4 programme 'Extreme Parental Guidance' to find out what parents can do to protect their daughters.

Groups of girls aged six, nine and twelve, all with healthy body weights, were invited to have their photos taken before the images were digitally altered to show three bodies getting thinner and three getting bigger. Each girl was asked which image they thought was accurate and in contrast, which one they would prefer to look like. ̽��ֱ��startling results revealed that many perceived themselves as being larger than they really are and that many already wanted to be thinner.

̽��ֱ��young girls were then shown photos of other girls and women and asked whether they would like to get to know the people in the various photos.

̽��ֱ��girls' first response was to judge the people in the photos as interesting (worth getting to know) if they were "thin", but not if they were "fat or chunky". However, their responses were quickly modified when further information about the people in the photo was given, for example "What if I told you she was a champion swimmer?"

̽��ֱ��overall observation made was that girls, at times, adopted but also modified and resisted ideals of the slender female physique. Dr Apter observed how receptive these girls were to changing their views through quiet interpersonal guidance and reflection.

Dr Apter said: 'Of course it is upsetting to see perfectly normal girls feel dissatisfied with their healthy bodies, but the exercise also showed how eager girls are to engage with sensible reflections about the meaning and varieties of attractiveness.'

Dr Apter's research focuses on family dynamics and work and family balance. She is the author of several books including 'Altered Loves: Mothers and Daughters During Adolescence', a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and 'Confident Child: Raising Children to Believe in Themselves' which won the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International Educator's Award in 1998.

Extreme Parental Guidance, Episode 3 was broadcast on Tuesday 23 February at 8:00pm on Channel 4 and can be viewed online on the 4oD website.

A recent study by a Cambridge researcher has uncovered the startling way in which young girls view and feel about their bodies.

Of course it is upsetting to see perfectly normal girls feel dissatisfied with their healthy bodies, but the exercise also showed how eager girls are to engage with sensible reflections about the meaning and varieties of attractiveness.

Dr Terri Apter

jgoge from Flickr

Miss Teenager 2011

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̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Terri Apter

Cambridge heads for Hay

Academic advises on young girls’ body perceptions