Institute of Advanced Studies

INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDIES Institute of Advanced Studies 2013–2016 2 Institute of Advanced Studies 2013–2016 Institute of Advanced Studies Team Professor Michael J Hannon Sue Gilligan Sarah Jeffery Director Institute of Advanced Studies Deputy Director and Manager IAS Administrator ADVISORY BOARD Matthew Eugenia (Éva) John Hilton Valsami-Jones Bridgeman Professor of Social History Chair in Environmental Nanoscience Professor of Environmental Engineering Damien Kiran Trehan Walmsley Professor of Leadership and Professor of Restorative Dentistry Enterprise Development Institute of Advanced Studies 2013–2016 3 Introduction 1900 the visionary civic leader and British stakeholders including health providers allow us to explore novel ways to foster statesman Joseph Chamberlain brought and patients, carers, athletes, policy makers, creative intellectual environments and valuable Birmingham’s academic institutions together artists and funders, to create new thinking around opportunities for new research collaborations. to create the University of Birmingham as ‘A important challenges. Workshops have drawn school of universal instruction, not confined to on knowledge from across all academic Schools Sue Gilligan, IAS Deputy Director and Manager, any particular branch of knowledge but taking and Colleges and, complemented by public has shaped and planned the work of the Institute all knowledge into its province.’ Chamberlain lectures and engagement events,which have and IAS Administrator Sarah Jeffery has organised recognised that knowledge did not reside solely allowed Birmingham to both develop new lines and supported all our events and activities. They in isolated disciplines but that knowledge and of research and strengthen our external profile. are regularly nominated by academic colleagues its pursuit should transcend those disciplines. Events around key societal themes have anticipated for our University Professional Services Awards, and positioned staff for wider national and and won Best Support for Research 2015. In the years since, the University of Birmingham international opportunities and we have initiated has grown into one of the most comprehensive collaborations that have led to large grants, Our five IAS Associate Directors provide a Universities in the UK, and the physical publications and policy influences. key sounding-board for new ideas and how co-location of the different disciplines on to implement them. the Edgbaston campus gives Birmingham New links have been forged with partners around a unique capability to address today’s major the world through the University-Based Institutes Mike Hannon global challenges that fall between and across for Advanced Study (UBIAS) network. These links IAS Director disciplines; The Birmingham Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) was launched in 2013, by Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir David Eastwood, and founding IAS Director, Pro Vice-Chancellor About the Director Professor Malcolm Press, to further nourish and Mike is Professor of Chemical Biology at Mike was appointed IAS Director in April 2015, enhance our intellectual environment and to Birmingham. His prize-winning research lies after seven years experience in creating and promote and foster interdisciplinary endeavour. at the interface between chemistry and the supporting interdisciplinary research as founding life sciences, focused on metal complexes Director of two award-winning, interdisciplinary The IAS is a key part of Birmingham’s research in biology and medicine as both imaging research training Centres at the interface environment, showcased here in this, our first, agents and therapeutics. He is President of between physical sciences and biomedicine. activity report. Over twenty leading international the Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, He has a particular interest in the ways people academics have already visited The Institute as an international learned society with over one from different countries, cultures, and disciplines Distinguished Visiting Fellows and around one thousand members, and will co-chair the create stimulating intellectual environments hundred interdisciplinary workshops have taken European Biological Inorganic Chemistry that promote paradigm-shifting research. place, bringing together not only our own and conference in Birmingham in 2018. external academics but a wider community of 4 Institute of Advanced Studies 2013–2016 Institute of Advanced Studies 2013–2016 5 Distinguished Visiting Fellows 6 Institute of Advanced Studies 2013–2016 Distinguished Visiting Fellows The Institute of Advanced Studies Distinguished Visiting Fellowship (DVF) Programme brings to Birmingham outstanding academics from global leading institutions around the world to enable research collaborations and the enrichment of campus life. Hosted by Professor Professor Said Sidki Sergey Shpectorov PROFESSOR SAID SIDKI Said’s public lecture ‘Higher University of Brasilia (UnB), Education in Brazil: Evolution March–June and April 2016 and Challenges’ was a fascinating insight for staff and students into Professor Sidki is one of the most Higher Education of a rapidly prominent Brazilian algebraists, developing economy and the founder of the biannual Escola seven million higher education de Algebra and is a Member of students in Brazil’s public and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. private universities. This lecture was circulated widely and Said’s collaboration with Sergey broadcast at UnB. Shpectorov and Justin McInroy (University of Bristol), focused on After Said’s first visit, Sue Gilligan a problem in Group Theory, which accompanied a delegation to Brasilia was proposed by Said some thirty where she met with the Institute years ago and has stimulated him to of Exact Sciences chaired by think and write about the problem the Director Norai Rocco. from different perspectives. The work has resulted publications in the Journal of Algebra and Math. Zeitschrift. Institute of Advanced Studies 2013–2016 7 Hosted by Hosted by Professor Professor Professor Pete Alcock Adalbert Third Sector Michael Professor Evers Research Centre Biehl Wiebke Arlt ADALBERT EVERS (Welfare Innovations In Local PROFESSOR MICHAEL BIEHL patients with adrenal tumours. He Justus Liebig University in Welfare Systems in Support of Professor of Computing Science, also interacted with the Centre for Giessen, March and April 2014 Social Cohesion) at the Cooperative University of Groningen, Translational Inflammation Research Research Unit at the Open University, April–June 2014 (CTIR; Dagmar Scheel-Toellner, Adalbert Evers is Professor for Edinburgh University Business Karim Raza, Chris Buckley), applying Comparative Health and Social School and the ImPRovE Mid-term Michael Biehl is an internationally his methods to outcome prediction Policy at the Justus Liebig University Conference in Antwerp. leading expert in the fields of and early diagnosis of chronic in Giessen; he works there in the Scientific Computing and Machine inflammatory disease. Links were Institute for Political Sciences at the Professor Evers gave an IAS Learning. His current research also established with Peter Tino from Department for Social and Cultural public seminar ‘Building from the focuses on the design of efficient the School of Computer Science, Sciences and in the Institute for bottom: How is social innovation similarity-based methods for through a strong interest in machine Household Economy and Consumer transforming social policy?’ classification, clustering and learning, modelling techniques and Research at the Department visualization of complex and their inter-disciplinary applications. for Agrarian Sciences, Ecology high-dimensional data sets, systems Collaborative projects are now under and Environmental Management. science approaches to biomedical way with the Systems Science for large-scale data. The visit served to Health Initiative, the NIHR Trauma During his time as an IAS enhance inter-disciplinary interaction, Centre and MRC/ARUK Centre Distinguished Visiting Fellow, created broad exposure to cutting for Musculoskeletal Ageing. Professor Evers gave lectures, edge bioinformatics strategies as presenting concepts and results innovative research tools, explored Professor Biehl is not only a cutting from his research project, WILCO, Michael’s significant expertise edge computer scientist but an regarding multi-disciplinary outstanding communicator of integration of bioinformatics and science, which has enabled him the exchange of ideas on how to to overcome boundaries and engage The time spent by Professor Evers, as an IAS enhance embedding of bioinformatics in truly productive inter-disciplinary Distinguished Visiting Fellow was of great value. to facilitate highly synergistic collaboration and during his visit As a leading figure in the international third sector multi-disciplinary interactions IAS hosted two an interdisciplinary research field his visit was instrumental in helping to and the generation of translational workshops ‘Data analysis, machine strengthen our international reputation and in broadening outcomes of systems science. learning, and modelling in the bio-medical domain’ and ‘Intelligent collaborative research activity, in particular within Europe. In collaboration with Wiebke Arlt, computation meets bio-medical Pete Alcock Professor Biehl has applied novel research: recent developments machine learning approaches to in computational biology’. steroid metabolome data from 8 Institute of Advanced Studies 2013–2016 Hosted by Hosted by

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